A new renewable energy developer founded by Frank Phuan has raised S$50 million (US$39 million) to build solar and green hydrogen infrastructure in Indonesia as regional efforts to export clean power to Singapore face regulatory barriers.
Equator Renewables Asia (ERA), established last year by the former co-founder of Sunseap Group, secured the funding from strategic investors including Indonesian agribusiness firm KPN Corporation and Singapore-based shipping company Tsao Pao Chee (TPC).
KPN and TPC contributed S$30 million (US$24 million) as key investors, with the remaining S$20 million (US$16 million) to come from Phuan and ERA’s management team.
Phuan said the fundraise is part of ERA’s mission to help Singapore and Indonesia decarbonise while supporting the development of sustainable industrial zones (SIZ) in the archipelago.
ERA’s announcement comes as several cross-border solar projects between Indonesia and Singapore face delays, raising concerns about the pace of clean power trading between the two countries.
According to reporting by The Straits Times, multiple Indonesian and multinational developers tasked with exporting solar power from Batam to Singapore have struggled to secure financing, despite a bilateral agreement signed in 2023.
The projects – which involve building large solar farms, battery storage facilities and subsea transmission cables – were initially targeted to begin delivering electricity by 2028.
However, industry executives told the ST that a regulatory requirement in Indonesia – permit renewal every five years – has made the projects difficult to finance, jeapardising project tlmelines.
Phuan told Eco-Business that ERA’s projects are “progressing in parallel” with policy discussions between the Singapore and Indonesian governments to finalise the regulatory framework for cross-border renewables trade, including the tenure of export licences.
ERA has secured licence approval to reserve the Indonesian subsea space needed for cabling, and is working with government agencies to clarify detailed requirements under the SIZ framework, he said.
ERA’s Indonesian pipeline includes multiple solar projects with a combined capacity of 2.2 gigawatt-peak (GWp), along with 3.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery energy storage and green hydrogen initiatives.
Phuan said that the new funding injection would be split between site development and early-stage project preparation for utility-scale solar development, and early-stage feasibility studies, pilot development, and storage and transport for green hydrogen.
ERA’s development portfolio is focused on Indonesia’s Riau archipelago, including a new SIZ across the Batam, Bintan and Karimun regions that was established by Singapore and Indonesia in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last year.
That region has seen resistance to development in recent months, with the Rempang Eco-City project, a glass and solar initiative covering 7,000 hectares of Rempang Island near Batam, sparking community protests amid reports of forced evictions.
Phuan said ERA’s projects are expected to be located across several sites within the Riau Islands, with land controlled by KPN another site location option.
He said ERA is in early-stage discussions with KPN regarding site selection, and all projects would be subject to environmental and social impact assessments and take into account land suitability and regulatory requirements.
Phuan cited regulatory hurdles, electricity price volatility and land access rights among the key challenges facing cross-border energy trading in Southeast Asia on a podcast with Eco-Business last month.
