London, UK based global investor Actis has launched itself in the renewables market of Vietnam with the acquisition of the majority stake in Levanta Renewables that's currently into onshore wind but has plans to execute solar projects as well in the future.
The Southeast Asia focused renewables platform currently has 300 MW of onshore wind power projects in advanced development. Levanta's Founder and Managing Director Sudhir Nunes said, "Vietnam is committed to decarbonizing its energy supply at Cop 26 and we will actively support Vietnam and Southeast Asia's Energy Transition through the execution of our existing onshore wind projects in Vietnam and future solar and wind projects in the region."
For Actis, a 50% stake in Levanta presents an opportunity to scale the business into a sustainability leader across Southeast Asia and accelerate its plan to build 1.5 GW of wind and solar energy capacity in the region using its buy-and-build strategy. Offtakers for this power generated will include commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.
Actis said its in-house sustainability team will work in partnership with Levanta to establish 'world-class ESG standards' across the business to report positive impact. It is investing in the renewables platform through its Energy 5 Fund that represents $6 billion of investable capital for energy transition. It has so far invested in some 11 GW of renewable energy capacity globally.
Recently, Actis sold off its stake in India's Sprng Energy to Shell and also launched a Central and South Eastern Europe focused renewables platform, Rezolv Energy (see Actis Launches New European RE Platform Called Rezolv Energy).
"Our proven experience as builders and operators of sustainability leaders will allow us to support the low carbon transition in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, a region in which the energy supply is traditionally heavily dependent on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas," said Actis' Director Energy Infrastructure Rahul Agrawal.
Vietnam seems to be hot among big players in the renewables field these days. In early August, industrial properties rental service provider KCN Vietnam has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with France's TotalEnergies to have all of its industrial properties in Vietnam to be fitted with rooftop solar panels, representing a total capacity of 45 MW DC (see TotalEnergies & KCN Vietnam Enter Partnership). The renewable energy arm of Italy's Enel, Enel Green Power (EGP) says its Vietnamese subsidiary has accumulated 5.692 GW of renewable energy pipeline comprising 915 MW capacity at an advanced stage and targets to commission its maiden utility scale plant here by 2024 (see Enel Green Power Expands To Vietnam).