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#AEBF25 | Day 1 - Financing the APG: Unlocking Investments through the APGF

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The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) Financing Initiative (APGF) has been officially launched by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank to mobilize significant investment, estimated at $250 billion, required to integrate ASEAN's power grids by 2045. This initiative aims to overcome financial, regulatory, and coordination challenges to foster regional energy security, increase renewable energy adoption, and drive economic integration.

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Ladies and gentlemen, announcing the

arrival of his excellency young Amabad

Du Amar Fadila bin Ysuf Deputy

Prime Minister of Malaysia and Minister

of Energy Transition and Water Transformation

Transformation

accompanied by all our distinguished

guests [music]

and welcome Yamama

Amar. Thank you so much sir for joining

>> [music]

>> Thank you so much. Kindly be seated everyone.

everyone.

Kindly be seated. Thank you so much.

Assalamu alayikum everybody. Let's let's

now move on this Wednesday morning for

our plenary session two. And I would

like to welcome everyone once again to

our next plenary session which is

unlocking investments through ASEAN

power grid financing initiative. This

session is jointly hosted by the ASEAN

Development Bank or ADB and the World

Bank and it will provide us with

valuable insights into the ASEAN power

grid or APG outlining its key concepts,

financing priorities as well as

introducing the ASEAN power grid

financing initiative, a joint effort by

both ADB as well as the World Bank.

Following the joint presentation, we'll

be hearing from a distinguished panel

who'll be discussing the financial

challenges as well as the potential

solutions towards realizing this

ambitious uh vision to integrate ASEAN's

power grids by 2045 inshallah God

willing. And to commence this session,

it is now my honor to invite the

executive director of the ASEAN Center

for Energy, Datau Engineered

Technologies, Razid Daw, to say a few words.

words. Lakan.

Uh and very good morning uh to all of

you. Young Ahmed Bhad D Amar Fadila

bin Ysu the deputy prime minister

of Malaysia and as well as the minister

for energy and water transformation of

Petra of Malaysia and uh that uh

secretary general Dr. Ku

and colleague of the World Bank and

Assean Development Bank as well as

Deputy Secretary General Assan

Secretary, distinguished delegates,

ladies and gentlemen

and uh on behalf of the ASEAN Center for

Energy or ACE, I would like to welcome

the initiative uh to uh um um supporting

this journey of ASEAN power grid

and ACE as the secretariat will be the

secretariat of APG financing or APGF

working group uh which is consisting of

the center and the ASEAN secretariat and

the two multilateral development bank is

uh committed uh to advance the APG

initiative for the future of energy. G

of Assean region

and encouraging tone for the APG is

recurring theme of the discussion

between ASEAN member states for the APG

and soon you're going to uh hear the

announcement of the new ASEAN power grid

uh enhanced MOU which ASEAN will

complete by the ministerial meeting

inshallah tomorrow which is a testament

of the renewed uh political commitment

of political leadership the Assean uh uh

region in pursuing realizations of APG

dreams. Yeah. So the ASEAN center of

energy or the center is committed uh to

support the coordinations of the ASEAN

for the APG including on it financing

for the AEAN member. I think with that I

thank you again for your presence here

I now have the [music] honor to invite

ladies and gentlemen his excellency

young Amar Fadila bin Yu the

deputy prime minister of Malaysia and

minister of energy transition water

transformation pra [music] to now

deliver his opening remarks [music]

which mean peace be upon you and very

good morning to all. Thank you madame MC

in senior technologist Rajib Bindaw

executive director of ASEAN center for

Mohammed Zidi

secretary general of Petra

Deputy Secretary uh

of from Philippines my friend Mr. Wfred

Bland, Director General of Southeast

Asia Department of Asian Development Bank.

Bank.

Madame Collodia Invasqu Suarez, practice

manager of the World Bank, heads of the

international organization,

distinguished guests. Ladies and

gentlemen, it is my honor to address you

today in this important session and

discussion. Malaysia's Assan

Chairmanship 2025

has embraced the theme ASEAN 2025

inclusivity and sustainability.

It reflects our expression for dynamic,

equitable and peopleentric or people

centered as indeed energy is a vital

enabler of this vision.

Assean has put the Assean power grid or

APG initiative as one of the most

strategic initiatives of the Assean

energy cooperation. Assan have

identified the enabling role of the IPG

to allow more energy cooperation between

us, improve our energy security and

increase renewable energy adoption in

the region. The APG is more than an

infrastructure. It will be our symbol of

solidarity and interconnectivity.

Malaysia is pleased to put endorsement

of the ensan APGM OU as one of the

priority economic deliverables

under Malaysia ASEAN chairmanship 2025.

The completion of the MOU will mark a

renewed commitment of ASEAN to advance

our Niji cooperation through the APG.

It will be a cornerstone of the

initiatives to overcome the challenges

in realizing the MPG dream including for

the financing aspect. Financing the FPG

matters because it is the foundation

upon which our energy ambitions are

built. Without adequate and innovative

financing mechanism, even the most prom

promising projects may stall. We must

mobilize both public and private

capital, derisk investments, and create

enabling environments that attract

long-term commitments. Financing the APG

will be about trust, vision, and shared opportunity.

opportunity.

To that note, I would like to extend my

congratulation to the World Bank and the

Asian Development Bank for a fruitful

discussion with the ASEAN Center for

Energy or AS and the Assean Secretary of

the APG Financing Initiative. The

ministerial interface meeting has

reaffirmed and endorsed the APG's role

in advancing the ASEAN 2045

our shared future through strengthening

multilateral power trade. The ministers

noted the potential role of the APG

financing initiative to accelerate the

progress of the APG.

The meetings are serve as a pivotal

moment that represent the commitment of

ASEAN to develop APG by beyond just the

energy sector. I would like also to

commend the proposal to develop the APG

financing working group consisting of

the ASEAN secretariat, the ASEAN center

for energy, the World Bank and the ASEAN

or Asian Development Bank. I expect the

working group to work closely together

in accelerating the progress of the

initiative with the facilit facilitation

of ACE as the working group secretariat.

So I I commend the role of ACE as a

upcoming APG secretariat under the

enhanced APG MOU to lead the

coordination between the working group

the member states and the APG related

bodies in Hapoa Eron and also the APGCC.

So excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

in closing, the ASEAN energy ministers,

including myself, is eager to see the

progress of the APG for our shared

prosperity. I thank the organizers for

arranging this important discussion

session and I wish for a fruitful and

exciting discussions in this session and

all around the ASEAN energy business

forum. Thank you Timasi.

Thank you so much your excellency deputy

prime minister. Kindly remain [music] on

stage sir. Oh just be careful. That was

a fast one.

Okay. Would like to now move on to our

next agenda. And for this we would like

to invite the deputy secretary general

of ASEAN for ASEAN [music] economy

community as well as the executive

director of ASEAN. We'd like to also

invite our KSU

as well as our SVC leaders from Philippines

Philippines

to join um us on stage as well as yes if

you may your excellency deputy prime

minister to join us back on stage for

our next uh agenda on our program which

We'd also like to invite Mr. [music]

Winfred Wickline, director general of

Southeast Asia Department of ADP as well

as Miss Claudia Inz [music] Vasquez

Suarez, practice manager of energy for

East Asia and Pacific Region of the

World Bank for the MOU document

exchange. They're already upstage.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this is taking [music] place bearing

witness all of us here as well as our

VIPs on stage. A memorandum of

understanding was signed between ADB and

the World Bank is a statement [music]

of commitment to jointly support and

implement the APG [music]

financing initiative.

Another round of applause, ladies and

gentlemen. Congratulations to ADP and

the World Bank on this historic [music]

milestone. Let's take just one more

This also marks the APGF launching.

launching.

Congratulations once again. Thank you

everyone. Gently and carefully take your seats.

seats. [music]

>> All right, ladies and gentlemen, we'll

now like to share with you a special

video message from [music] the

multilateral development banks

co-develop developing the APG financing

initiative, Asian Development Bank as

>> Thank you. Your excellency um honorable

deputy prime minister Datuk Amar

Fadila D A Zedi Secretary General of

Petra Ace Executive Director Dat Rasep

Dawood and Asan Secretariat

Deputy Secretary General Satinda Singh

distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen

gentlemen

my name is Vinnie Vickler I'm the

director general of the um Asian uh

development bank's Southeast Asia

department. I'd like to thank the

government of Malaysia for the warm

welcome and hospitality and I'm honored

uh together with my colleague Clario

Vatkas of the World Bank to introduce on

the ASEAN power grid financing

initiative uh that we the Asian

Development Bank and the World Bank are

launching today with all of you.

The Asan power grid is the region's

flagship for economic integration and a

resilient, sustainable, and affordable

energy future for the 700 million people

of this region. It represents a bold

vision of a shared energy future with

benefits for all Asan countries.

While this vision may seem ambitious,

Southeast Asia has already built the

foundations. Over the past 20 years, a

number of bilateral connections have

been built, overcoming technical and

operational challenges.

But this is only the beginning. To meet

future energy needs, Asan members have

committed to more than double grid

interconnection capacity by 2040.

Connecting the region through an anti-

integrated APG will involve substantial

investments at both regional and

national levels.

The 2021 ASEAN interconnection master

plan identified 18 priority

interconnection projects. This has grown

since to include a number of proposed

subcable projects as well as national

grid expansions to enable crossber trading.

trading.

This same master plan estimates that nearly$250

nearly$250

billion US dollars of investments are

required to enable crossber trade and to

meet surging demand including over 16

billion US in grid interconnections

alone. And mind you this figure is

conservative. The actual investment

needs may be higher. The opportunity

even greater.

What is clear is that the APG will mean

not only investment in infrastructure

but it will also require investments in

institutions in regulations and in

technical capacity throughout the region.

region.

And it will provide a mandate for

unprecedented collaboration across many

actors from ministries, regulators,

national utilities and development

partners on the public side to project

developers and commercial financers on

the private side.

So my colleague Claudia Vasquez from the

World Bank will now provide further

details on the need for such

unprecedented unprecedented partnership

and on our joint plans to address them

>> Thank you very much uh Vinnie u your

excellency distinguished guest. My name

is Claudia Vasquez. I am the practice

manager for energy um covering East

Asian Pacific uh for the World Bank and

I would like to provide you further

details on the challenges of realizing

the APG vision and how we propose to

address them. The first challenge as

mentioned by Vinie earlier is the amount

of investment

16 billion only for interconnection investments.

investments.

Second, there are coordination

challenges. Lack of coordination has

hampered efficient allocation of

resources from both public as well as

private in institutions for project

development. And third, the lack of

access to a regionwide energy data is

hindering due diligence processes and

undermining the confidence of investors

to commit to long-term capital that is

needed. Many projects in fact do not see

also uh sustained support for their

project development from both the

development community as well as phone authorities.

authorities.

So how we are the ADB and the world bank

planning to address those challenges

will be guided by some by the following

principles. First, the APG financing

must provide support for project

development to ensure equitable

distribution of economic opportunities

and benefits among participating

parties. We will act actively mobilize

and leverage financing from both public

and private sectors. Third, we'll ensure

transparent and inclusive process to

provide timely and effective support for

a wide range of development institutions

and part the partners for identified

project. And finally, we will generate

energy and project databases to generate

support and financing for the project.

Next, please next slide.

To address these challenges head on and

based on the principles that I have

outlined earlier,

the ADB and the World Bank today are

launching the Asan power grid financing

initiative APGF.

We are focusing on one goal, deliver solutions

solutions

for developing and financing the APG

project at a scale.

The APGF will mobilize financing

ecosystem for APG projects by providing

end-to-end coordination and support for

these projects.

The APGF

will offer three things. First, it will

create new processes for utilities and

investors to seek technical and

financial support for their project.

Second, it will help accelerate project

development by convening development

partners and financeers to engage at

each stage of the project preparation

from early identification to financing

so that we can act so that we can ensure

an accelerated process. And finally, we

will mobilize and leverage finance. We

aim to crowding concessional financing

so that it can leverage commercial and

institutional capital. We will also

employ all of our range of instruments

which are which such as guarantees,

innovative credit enhancement

instruments to maximize the impact of capital.

capital.

At the center of the APGF,

we will have two coordinating platforms

that were also mentioning mentioned by

his excellency earlier. The APGF working

group is the first one that you can see

on the slide on your right side. The

working group will consist of a SEC,

ASAN center for energy, ADB and the

World Bank. And the second mechanism

will be the PACE which is the partners

for asan connectivity in energy. This

one will be a platform where we will

encourage collaboration at project level

to align activities and to service

surface NC policy issues that we hope

ASEAN will help solve and we will bring

visibility for those collectively. We

hope that these two platforms will help

establish an ecosystem of development

partners and financial institutions to

encry to increase capital mobilization

and and its impact to transparent

structured and responsive process for

APG product. Next slide please.

Today after the exchange of the MOUS

between the ADB and the World Bank and

at the launch of the APGF F we plan to

accelerate the operationalization

of this initiative. Preparations have

begun for the launch of the PACE

platform uh at the APG stakeholders

meeting in December this year.

The ADB and the World Bank will also

continue consultations and identify APG

investments for which we can provide

support under the World Bank Finance

Technical Assistance Program. ACCE the

ASEAN center for energy has already

started a round of consultation to ASEAN

member states to identify specific

investments and projects

with a view of having a list by early

next year. The ADB and the World Bank we

are committing we are committed to

delivering and the operationalization of

the APG financing initiative. We will go

work together with ASEAN member states

to real realize their APG vision. We

really look forward

to working together with you all. Thank

you very much.

Thank you so much Mr. Wickline as well

as Miss Suarez on giving us more context

about APG financing initiative. Thank

you so much. Kindly make your way and to

be seated. And now ladies and gentlemen,

let us now take a look at a special

video message from the multilateral

development banks co-developing the APG

financing initiative, Asian Development

is entering a bold new era of energy connectivity.

connectivity.

By linking the electricity networks of

10 countries [music] across land and

sea, the ASEAN power grid will deliver

reliable [music] and clean power to over

680 million people, driving sustainable

economic growth, accelerating the energy

transition, and building resilience in

the region.

Bringing this vision [music] to life

requires unprecedented financing and

cooperation among governments, private

sector and financial institutions

to ensure strong regulatory frameworks,

seamless technical integration and

multiple funding sources.

The ASEAN power grid [music] financing

initiative is ready to take on this challenge.

challenge.

Established by the Asian Development

Bank, the World Bank and Asan countries,

this initiative will mobilize the

funding crucial to take projects from

concept to completion. Through

partnerships, it will convert this fast

growing region's energy needs into

investments that unlock renewable energy

and deliver reliable electricity within

and across borders, improving the lives

of millions of people.

The Azon power grid presents an

extraordinary opportunity [music] to

meet Southeast Asia's growing energy

needs. As the region's long-standing

partner, we thank Azion for trusting ADB

[music] with this mandate. We stand

ready to commit up to 10 billion of our

own resources for this important

initiative over the next decade. [music]

But no institution can do this alone.

That's why we're helping to build a

coalition of governments, utilities, [music]

[music]

investors, and innovators, united by a

shared commitment to regional energy

integration. Together, we can turn this

vision into reality [music] and deliver

lasting benefits for generations to come.

We at the [music] World Bank are

committed to supporting Assean countries

in finding and implementing an energy

mix that works [music] best for them.

Their initiative to scale up renewables

is key to generating more affordable and

[music] reliable power, boosting

competitiveness, and creating jobs. We

are deeply committed to supporting ASEAN

countries in realizing the vision of the

ASEAN power grid backed by technical

[music] assistance and the full choice

of financing instruments of the World

Congratulations once again to ADB and

World Bank Group. And now that we have

witnessed the launch of the ASEAN

um grand financing initiative, uh we

will now proceed to inviting our VIPs. I

understand that they've got another

productive ministerial meeting and an

official meeting just next door. So

thank you so much sir for joining us.

Would like to announce the departure for

them to move to another official

and to all our delegates, [music]

please stay back as we will be

continuing our forum here [music] with

our next panel discussion titled

Unlocking Investments through the ASEAN

And whilst we wait for our VIPs to take

their leave, congratulations [music]

once again. This is the launch of the ASEAN

ASEAN

power grid financing initiative that

[music] has been witnessed by each and

every one of us here at our AEBF 2025.

2025.

Thank you once again

to all our distinguished VIPs.

All right,

let us now proceed with the panel

discussion titled unlocking investments

through the ASEAN power grid financing

initiative. And this session will be

moderated by Mr. Shina Nishiimura, the

senior financial specialist for World

Bank. Joining him are our esteemed

panelists. We have Reno, Donnie, Dono

Suetro, OB CEO, Center Charted

Indonesia, OBBE CEO, Standard Chartered

Indonesia. Andrew to assistant managing

director of business development from

capital. Su Hernand senior vice

president project finance DBS as well as

Kitibu VP Asia XI IndI India Global

So Nishimura

stage is yours and [music]

let's look forward to a very interesting

panel discussion.

Over to you moderator and esteemed panelists.

So um thank you very much for joining us

for this very uh historic moment uh with

the uh launching of the APGF.

What we wanted to do right now is to

actually get uh views from various perspectives

perspectives

because we are here to serve you um the

financeers, the investors, the advocacy

groups um and for you to actually

develop the project into reality.

So um I know that we have very limited

time. So I would just like to jump into

the questions that I have for the panelists.

panelists.

So um I'll start with um Pakdani uh who

is the CEO of Standard Chartered in

Indonesia. My question is Standard

Chartered had been active in financing

infrastructure across Southeast Asia

playing multiple roles

including a financial uh advisory uh and

provider of corporate financing and

project financing. Um, with that said,

what lessons or recommendations can you

share for the project developers trying

to accelerate the process towards

confirming their project's financing package?

package?

>> Thank you Cindia and uh uh it's a

privilege to be here a very good

morning. Uh I suppose actually I'll

approach this uh question actually from

two parts. One is the perhaps more

technical part. So some of the lessons

learned as well as perhaps to project

developers for large infra and and and I

think actually as we have seen earlier

APG is for ASEAN it's one of the largest

scale of projects actually that is you

know it's quite unique actually it is

also quite complex on the other hand so

a couple of things actually one is to

engage with uh financial institutions

whether that's MDBs whether they're

private banks you know as early as

possible Because these institutions can

help project developers in doing

assessments in terms of particularly for

the non-recourse structure whether the

offtake agreement stands is it bankable

is it not the other thing is also is

about broadening the financing pool from

day one and this would be required

because the point is that to reach that

project um uh optimization

uh from a financing perspective actually

we need actually to gather actually

everybody I think as we know there is

there's no way actually this project uh

in APG can be done uh without blended

finance and PPP I think actually that's

the idea actually why APGF is being set

up and pace is being set up as well

which makes a lot of sense uh typical

the other one is remember actually some

of the international financials also

have their own ESG standards that's why

diligence having an advance uh

definitely engaging them prec

uh type of thing actually would be would

would provide uh enough time uh to get

the project going. The other thing

actually very important is the equitable

allocation of risks. Now across the

whole entire construction operation uh

and maintenance going forward there's a

clarity in terms of who actually is the

borrower uh and uh the responsibilities

of the counterparties and their track

record actually whether it's the EPC

contractor whether that's the the

project sponsors. uh from there actually

then you go into the structuring part

right I mean last but not least I think

in essence very important that

financiers particularly long-term

financiers see predictability if not

certainty of cash flow now that's the

one actually where your in power

actually projecting power agreement

actually comes through actually or

transmission services agreement comes

through or even actually in water

actually is water uh procurement uh

agreement and these are the kind of

things that go into 25 35 we've seen We

finance project with offtake agreement

of 35 years actually long-term. Uh then

you can come in actually with a

structure whether you need actually that

credit enhancements that people talk

about the risking mechanism whether

viability get funding actually would be

required the type of offtake guarantee

or different kinds of uh first loss

guarantees stuff like that actually

that's something actually that uh should

be done in advance I believe actually

that APGF is is intended actually to

help actually on that one. Now the

second part I think actually the more

strategic one as part of key enabler for

this scale of project and we're very

excited as Santo because we seen uh and

we've done a couple of uh quite a number

actually of connectivity uh projects

across the world uh in ASEAN this is

really the largest first of all I think

the way we see it is that uh APG is uh

an infra asset class that essentially

combines various technologies so it's

you got uh wind hydro solar you've got

subc cables you know different

interconnections and so on. Now each

individually have been financed in ASEAN

but the combination of them actually

this is the first of its kind right. So

the way actually that we see it is that

even within our organization resources

that we put in actually combines

everybody actually from our country CEOs

to our project financing team uh all the

way to public sector as well as the uh

the government affairs actually it cuts

across actually the whole the whole

lens. What is really very critical for

this project to uh to be successful in

our view is that one that you got

technical visibility, financing

visibility and that was what we

discussed but there's also institutional

visibility. I think we heard about the

whole sort of harmonization of

regulations the setting up of the um

acceptable crossber energy uh uh trading

mechanism. Those are the kind of things

that we believe actually would need to

see progress quite fast because that

will really overlay the whole entire

project financing uh structure side of

things. Last but not least is that

initiatives like this a lot of

financiers would like to see some early

progress some early projects to be we've

got experience actually in uh

negotiating setting up as well as uh uh

financing at the end on uh country

platforms such as just energy transition

partnership and I think the key actually

for APG is to ensure that although it's

a long-term sort of vision if you will

but there are some activities ities

actually that can be done some of the

lowhanging fruits in terms of projects

and equity should be done uh at the

earliest possible so the momentum I

think actually that was highlighted

earlier by deputy prime minister

>> thank you very much uh Don uh Pakdani I

think that was very very insightful I

think um um we would like to continue on

the dialogue with you as well Um I would

like to continue on the maybe the

financeier side of the of the

perspectives and uh uh Mr. Sue Herring

um Ang from DBS. Um as everyone knows

DBS is one of the leading banks in the

region uh consistently recognized for

sustainability as well as focus on

innovation. Um and what we wanted to

hear from you is given your experience

in structuring crossborder and renewable

energy deals. What financing innovations

um including blended financing, credit

enhancements? Um what do you see as the

most catalytic for accelerating APG

interconnector investments?

>> Yep. Thanks. Thanks Sha and again very

happy to be here to to share my

thoughts. So I will address the question

in three different parts. So the first I

think is that blended finance indeed

plays a very crucial role in mobilizing

and catalyzing the financing required

for APG. And that's because um blended

finance is unique in its ability to take

on additional risk or different kind of

risk that private sector capital may not

be able to. And by having blended

finance in your projects, you help to

derisk the projects. And that's where

you can crowd in commercial bank

financings. And so by by just by by

derisking the projects coming in I think

blended finance is a very powerful tool.

I think we see this in action in I think

a uh one of the recent crossber wind

export projects between Lao and and

Vietnam where having blended finance

solution was able to bring in commercial

banks and even in that space the banks

were able to stretch the tenor slightly

longer than what they would typically um

consider for this kind of project. So I

think again blended finance is really a

powerful tool and it's not just about

providing capital to projects. It's

about being able to provide technical

assistance um capacity building and

advisories and particularly in the APG

where you know governments, developers,

regulators are still figuring things

out. I think the role of blended finance

is indeed very very you know required

for for this space. And then moving on

to my second point is that I think

blended finance on its own while like

while it's very crucial I think might

not be able to deliver the long-term ABG

plans and and that's really because of

the substantial capital required by you

know to develop not just interconnectors

but even within incountry power

transmission infrastructure. So while

governments and you know multilaterals

have committed a lot of fun funding

requirement I think there's still a gap

to be met and that's where I hope we do

see and we should see the role of banks

bank financing coming in and then when

we talk about bank financings that's

where banks will typically want to look

at credit enhancements things like

political risk guarantees commercial

risk guarantees and in order for that

guarantees to be in case the underlying

project structure needs to be uh robust

needs to be well structured and that

means the project needs to be bankable

um risk allocation needs to be sensible

and appropriate and this you know so for

risk allocation I'm talking about things

like um you know what happens during a

government of political force measure

event um termination events talking

about you know like what Donnie

mentioned stability of cash flows

revenue models um all these things needs

to be you know well considered and

structured in place to bring in and

mobilize the capital required and

I think that

another thing to to also consider

especially in crossber projects is how

will such car credit enhancements works

especially when you have me many

countries you know within and involved

in in this kind of projects. So I think

you know for example in one of the

recent projects I think in Cambodia you

know bank financing were manage was

managed to man managed to come in

together with amigga EPRG cover. looking

at this kind of um you know precedence

in in this space I think there is a role

for credit enhancements to and and

particularly political risk guarantees

because in this part of um you know in

ASEAN the the credit profile of the

different countries that we are talking

about is quite different and that's

where this kind of credit enhancements

will be play important role and I think

my final point I think is to acknowledge

the role that you know private credit

could play in this space and in shaping

Asia's energy transition story. I think

I recently I I recall one of the you

know pre pre data around um around

private credit funds the AUM has

increased by more than five times since

2014 to about slightly over 90 billion

in 2023. So I think private credit could

play a complimentary role to bank

financings and that's because you know

private credit can take on different

risk profile. they have slightly more

appetite to take on higher risk

structures and we do see them playing a

complimentary role. I think one of the

recent um financings DBS provided a

senior debt uh tranch and that's also

complemented by a mezzanine debt trunch

provided by private credit financiers.

So you know we do see there's a

complimentary role that private credit

could play and as you know

as as projects evolve and as you know

people get a bit more creative there are

sufficient and capital capital uh pools

out there that we can use to you know to

Thank you very much. Um very uh very

interesting and uh um you know based on

the real experiences that you have. So

thank you very much for that. Um moving

on I think um we would also like to hear

from uh Keell um with uh Mr. Andrew Co.

uh because Keell has firsthand

experience in APG

um and as a Singapore's first uh

electricity importer and the sole

offtaker of power through the LTMS

um I think we wanted to hear as a

developer what do you see as the key barriers

barriers

ex in accelerating the timelines for

getting APG projects to financial close?

what type of financial support uh would

be most useful in addressing these

barriers please.

>> Okay, thanks. Thanks a lot Gina and very

good morning to all. Um it's my pleasure

to be here sharing some of the

experience that we have as a developer.

Um so um yeah uh through Kapper has been

the first uh importer of energy uh

crossber energy to Singapore and that's

under the LTMS uh project I think that

is heavily uh spoken about uh in uh

every platforms uh that we hear out

there. Um so maybe sharing some

experiences from LTMS. I think LTMS we

are using existing grids and um uh

infrastructure. So essentially there is

no financing involved um hence no

financial close um needed for the

project to uh happen. Uh however so um

it was a very challenging

um um project to implement. I think it

took it took years for member countries

to discuss about how to implement this

um and eventually we started flowing the

electricity in 2022. So just to

highlight I think one of the key

barriers that we face is really the

regulatory aspect in terms of um

facilitating crossber energy trade. um

what are the framework what are the

policies that country adopt such that it

enables crossborder energy trade to

happen. So um I think our TMS was a

successful case uh since 2022 we flow uh

after the first phase uh in 2024 we

added another 100 megawatts of

electricity flowing from Malaysia. So it

was also a demonstration that it was

possible in instead of a bilateral flow

to also have a multilateral flow uh of

crossber energy. So um but it is made

possible by regular conversations and

discussion between member countries as

well as the exporter which is EDL and

the importer which is Kappa. Um so there

is a a lot of uh stakeholders involved

and alignment of interest um that needs

to be discussed uh to enable such kind

of uh crossber collaboration to happen.

Uh as we talk about other projects today

we are looking I mean at least for

Singapore we are looking at several

crossber energy uh opportunities those

involve uh extensive subc cables um very

large uh um power systems to be uh

invested in uh whether it's to do with

solar hydro or even offshore wind um

those kind of investments are in the

ballpark of billions and definitely we

need uh uh financings to be non-recourse

financing as what Donnie mentioned uh to

be stitch up for this project and I

think Suhan also mentioned um political

risk right uh I mean everybody is

concerned about possible change in law

in future uh how how are the guarantees

put in place to ensure projects are able

to be implemented over a long period of

time um so that becomes something that

is essential for developers like Kapper

um to make sure that we reach FID and

financial close uh for the projects. So

um to to countries to exporting

countries and and importing country or

even transiting countries uh it becomes

a balance of domestic policies versus um

export policies, right? uh how how do

you really balance uh the needs of your

country versus the need to export to a

external country? So um where we see is

there needs to be um um platform

um to be created for such dialogue to

happen uh between member countries of

the ASEAN uh to really come up with a

regulatory frame framework that supports

uh such crossber

uh electricity trade initiatives such

that it becomes uh something that is

bankable. Um so yeah we really need to

address that. Uh unfortunately this is

pretty new I think in terms of the the

the the regulatory

um framework in this region. Um but I

think we have seen um uh very uh

forthcoming and supportive efforts

coming from um members member countries

of Asia even from ADP as well as World

Bank and I think that's very heartening

for developers like us to to hear that

and um we believe that once clear

regulatory policies and frameworks are

being stitched up to enable um such

crossber opportunities it will really

accelerate uh the development of such

projects because from developers

perspective the commercial and the

technical element in terms of

physibility is something that is uh

common in any other projects that we are

developing uh across the region. The only

only

um ingredient that is lacking is really

a common framework to govern such uh um

opportunities. Yeah. Thanks.

>> Thank you very much Dr. uh Mr. to um I

think I'd like to finally go to you

Kitty um from the Global Energy Alliance

for People and Planet. Um I think we are

on the supporting side both the World

Bank and and GAP. Um but I wanted to

just listening to all the other

panelists who are actually on the

implementation side of APG. Um, GAP has

a strong track record in providing

catalytic financing and early stage

support for um, a first-of-akind clean

energy project.

So what role do you see advocacy,

financeers and and and philanthropy

uh playing in making APG transmission

projects more commercially attractive uh

in order to mobilize private sector

financing like from those two gentlemen

over there.

>> Thank you. Excellent question. Um can

everyone hear me? Okay, great. So I'm

Kitty. Uh it's great to be here. Thank

you very much for the opportunity. So

Gab, the global energy alliance for

people on planet is a philanthropic

organization that's supported by

Rockefeller, IKEA and Bezos earth fund.

We do especially in the region have

accumulated quite a lot of experience

and thinking around how is philanthropic

dollars can be injected and dispersed in

a marketfacing mannerism. To give you

some example, we have dispersed money

directly into project in project by

project financing. We've been an LP of

Southeast Asia's first clean energy fund

and we have been in partnership with

many of you actually here today in being

a creator and a designer of fast peace

first pillar very early stage. So in

this process as a philanthropic

organization we have also experienced

how to disperse money both in the sense

of grants returnable grants highly

concessional manner all the way to

guarantee and equity investment. So in

this trial and era I think as

[clears throat] a market face and

philanthropy there's a lot of learning

in terms of what is our role when it

comes to more of a market-based

project-based initi initiative based

funding. So to your question um of what

role we play now let me start by saying

that the philanthropic dollars are very

very scarce resources especially given

today's day and age. It is not a bucket

of gold. It's rather a handful of gold

dust. So, what we've learned over the

past months is how to sprinkle the gold

dust in order to make things happen. So,

we're a catalyst. We're catalyst working

across with different partners and

trying to make sure the money does

count. We want to use $1 to unlock many,

many dollars. If that number is a

hundred, is a thousand, is 10,000,

brilliant. Bring it on. On the other

hand, we also don't want to be

sprinkling the gold dust all the time,

right? The goal essentially for certain

initiative and projects or technology to

take off. Our role is to work ourselves

out of a job in the sense that the

initial projects and pilots and things

that need to happen will actually use

the dollar to activate the project to

create a table and bring all the

partners to the table and have a

collaborative conversation in order to

see project materialize on the ground

and things actually happen. Moving

forward beyond that stage that initial

pilot needs to change into 10 projects

100 projects in order to reach the

scalability and in that process the way

we disperse the philanthropic dollar

cannot crowd out any other players in

the market. Um but instead it has to be

a reduction to essentially phase

ourselves out of the process and that

that's sort of the role that we see.

Most importantly I say that

philanthropic dollars also bringing a a

critical voice a voice that's

championing for people in community. So

as we talk about this such an important

initiative that touches upon many aan

countries, government stakeholders,

financiers, capital allocators, it's

important that we keep people in mind

fundamentally building the Azang

connectivity is to benefit for electrons

to fly both ways to benefit the people

in the community along where the

transmission lines touch. Essentially,

it's country to country, but it's also

human to human, people to people. So how

do we ensure a just energy transition is

something that philanthropists care very

much. And the last point I would make is

philanthropic organizations have

different impact measuring systems and

criterias the monitoring evaluation

system of different organization and

different philanthropic organizations

have different ways of theory of change

the way we think about it and different

ways of dispersing dollars and I think

it's important that we create that

ecosystem around APG also understanding

how do we activate different theories of

change and different sources of

accountable capital and different ways

of measuring impact to make sure that we

fully utilize the different tables. That

table could have the lineup here today.

If you look at the lineup of the of the

panelists on this panel, we could

represent something that's around a deal

implementation project. But there could

also be many tables where different

capital allocators needs and ways of

allocating money are fully taken into

con consideration are fully heard and

that way it's a new innovative way with

a new innovative sort of initiative to

understand what is the current way of

creating a table in order to make sure

that money dances together and all the

partnerships gel.

Thank you very very much. Um been very

interesting conversation and I think we

would want to uh continue doing that um

offstage as well and we look forward to

working with you and thank you very much

today for your time and your inputs.

Thank you very much.

>> Thank you so much to our moderator as

Let's just take one group photo op

first. [music] I understand that the

official photographer wants to capture

Thank you once again Donnie Andrew Suhan

Kitty [music] as well as our moderator

for today Shina Nishimura

and we now invite his excellency Sat

Vinda Singh [music] the deputy secretary

general of ASEAN for ASEAN economic

community to deliver his closing remarks.

Still good morning, right? Oh, yeah.

Still good morning everyone. Um, it's

great to be here. Um it's it's really

I'm I'm standing here really concluding

this whole um APGF um launch as well as

I'm really here expressing my appreciation

appreciation

um to all of um our partners. But before

I do that, I do want to appreciate and

thank all the panelists from the

previous panel for truly raising some

very meaningful

um insights on what we should be

incorporating in our thinking as we are

building up this community. that

community is called the the APG uh

partnership for ASEAN connectivity and

energy pace because I think it is going

to be platforms like this individuals

like all of you organizations like you

who are going to be coming on board with

us on pace and directing the way forward

for all of us. Um I must also take this

opportunity to of course uh thank the

two organizations um both the ADB and

World Bank for standing by the ASEAN the

Assan ASEAN fraternity and I can say

that this has been a pretty long

journey. We've been working on this for

the last almost two years. Um Winnie and

Claudia yourselves personally and your

teams have been outstanding partners to

ASEAN. listen to what we want and you

have been quite flexible in trying to

put together what the region needs. Uh

and I must say we are really looking

forward um in the coming months to

materialize this effort together um and

give APG um initiative in ASEAN the full

backing on the financial side. Um

looking ahead I think right now the

immediate next step as you all know you

have seen some of the presentations

first we are really establishing the

APGF working group at the at a higher

level. Now this will consist of course

the asen secretariat together with the

center for energy and the world bank and

the Asian development bank. This is

going to be the core working group

that's going to serve the backbone to

the initiative and we are going to be

guided of course by the ASEAN senior

officials of energy and this is where

we're going to start defining even

greater details on the process in which

we want to establish um the PACE

platform and also the engagement. Um, of

course, the establishment of the PACE

platform, uh, this is of course going to

be in close consultation with all of our

partners in this room. Uh, PACE is there

is a community for APG, for ASEAN that

will facilitate, accelerate that will

also pull together the mobilization of

all the financing solutions uh that are

needed to deliver the objectives of the

APGF. um it's really going to be the

community and you will probably hear in

the next couple of uh weeks um the kind

of rollouts of activities that we want

to do with you on offline and online.

Third, of course, we will also intensify

our consultations with all of the ASEM

member states, the utilities as well as

private project owners, sponsors to try

to identify and generate strong pipeline

of uh projects for the APGF. I think

this is going to be critical and uh this

is what's going to be priority for us

and uh we hope to work with each one of

you. If you guys are representing some

of the interests in the region, please

come forward, engage us, reach out to us under PACE. And finally, of course, we

under PACE. And finally, of course, we want to be able to provide regular

want to be able to provide regular updates back to you on some of the um

updates back to you on some of the um progress that we are um achieving

progress that we are um achieving because I think we need a couple of

because I think we need a couple of strong project uh outcomes that are

strong project uh outcomes that are really going to motivate all of us to

really going to motivate all of us to move forward effectively. Um we all know

move forward effectively. Um we all know this very clearly the asen power grid is

this very clearly the asen power grid is not something we can succeed in

not something we can succeed in isolation not that the member states and

isolation not that the member states and asen secretary working in our own we

asen secretary working in our own we can't do that alone it really requires a

can't do that alone it really requires a full commune I think you heard everyone

full commune I think you heard everyone the keynote speakers you heard the

the keynote speakers you heard the panelists it really requires a whole

panelists it really requires a whole village for us to kind of come together

village for us to kind of come together to get this moving um but I must say

to get this moving um but I must say that from the secretary point of view we

that from the secretary point of view we have never seen such momentum move

have never seen such momentum move forward progressively addressing the

forward progressively addressing the challenges that we've been talking about

challenges that we've been talking about for the last many years. And and I do

for the last many years. And and I do want to once again appreciate the two

want to once again appreciate the two multilateral banks in coming forward to

multilateral banks in coming forward to take the leadership uh to be able to

take the leadership uh to be able to then front some of these challenges,

then front some of these challenges, address some of these challenges and

address some of these challenges and then come together to also support the

then come together to also support the ASEN fraternity in terms of coordinating

ASEN fraternity in terms of coordinating global capital behind you so that some

global capital behind you so that some of the bankability of these projects

of the bankability of these projects come true. to the blended finance that

come true. to the blended finance that we're talking about for all these years

we're talking about for all these years come true, you know. So, we are really

come true, you know. So, we are really excited once again. Thank you everyone

excited once again. Thank you everyone for for being here for the launch and a

for for being here for the launch and a big congratulations uh to the two

big congratulations uh to the two organizations for coming together to

organizations for coming together to support the Asen fraternity. Once again,

support the Asen fraternity. Once again, thank you.

thank you. >> Thank you so much your excellency for

>> Thank you so much your excellency for concluding this second plenary session.

concluding this second plenary session. Congratulations [music] once again to

Congratulations [music] once again to ADP as well as the World Bank Group. It

ADP as well as the World Bank Group. It is now time to close the session. We

is now time to close the session. We hope you have enjoyed and gained new

hope you have enjoyed and gained new insights [music] into how financing can

insights [music] into how financing can support the APG vision. And thank you

support the APG vision. And thank you once again to all speakers and panelists

once again to all speakers and panelists for their contributions. And thank you

for their contributions. And thank you to all of you here at the audience for

to all of you here at the audience for your kind attention. Ladies.

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YouTube Transcript:#AEBF25 | Day 1 - Financing the APG: Unlocking Investments through the APGF