Why renewable energy players are anchoring in Singapore

Renewable energy investment has been growing at an annual rate of 34 percent since 2004¹. As renewable energy projects grow across the region, Singapore is playing an increasingly important role in supporting project development, financing, engineering, and regional coordination.

Verdant, Vena Group and Ramboll are three global companies that saw value in situating their operations here. While each of them operates in different parts of the renewable energy ecosystem, they chose Singapore as a base to bring together the expertise, partnerships and resources needed to support renewable energy projects across Asia.

"Singapore brings together capital, talent, technology, and partnerships to support renewable energy development across the region,” said Mr Lim Wey-Len, Executive Vice President at the Singapore Economic Development Board. “We work closely to support global companies to build capabilities from Singapore and scale renewable energy solutions into regional markets."

Learn more from Verdant, Vena Group, and Ramboll as they share how Singapore supports their growth ambitions, and why they see the city-state continuing to play an important role in Asia’s renewable energy future.

Why are strategic hubs important for scaling renewable energy globally?
 

Alan Yau (CEO, Verdant) : Strategic hubs are critical to scaling renewables, particularly in emerging markets where execution can be complex. They allow us to centralise capital allocation, risk management, structuring, and governance, while local teams focus on project delivery. This model ensures consistency in underwriting, financing, and ESG standards across markets, while enabling faster decision-making and execution.

Hubs play a bridging role, connecting global capital with local opportunities. They provide a platform for cross-pollination which is fundamental to scaling renewable energy regionally.

Nitin Apte (CEO, Vena Group) : From our Singapore headquarters, we manage a 38 GW portfolio across 11 markets, spanning solar, onshore and offshore wind, hybrid projects, and a growing pipeline supported by 25 GWh of battery storage, alongside digital infrastructure solutions that support the region's AI-driven future. Operating across diverse markets allows us to transfer insights, capabilities, and best practices from one market to another, accelerating development and execution at scale.

This regional perspective is becoming increasingly important as cross-border power trade gains momentum in Asia. Singapore, for example, is targeting 6 GW of low-carbon electricity imports by 2035, an ambition we are supporting through projects such as solar exports from Indonesia to Singapore, backed by large-scale energy storage.

Our global hub in Singapore brings together the expertise to develop, finance, manage risk, and deliver complex projects across multiple jurisdictions. This integrated approach enables us to move more efficiently, unlock cross-market opportunities, and support the region's energy transition.

Tim Fischer (Global Senior Director (Wind), Ramboll) : At Ramboll, we operate our renewable energy business as a fully integrated global practice.

"Strategic global hubs play a central role by anchoring our expert talent and enabling collaboration across geographies."

This setup allows us to deploy highly specialised capabilities efficiently across different markets while combining global expertise with local market knowledge.

Importantly, a hub-driven approach improves resilience and scalability. Given the cyclical nature of project pipelines across regions, global hubs enable us to balance workloads, mitigate market fluctuations and scale more rapidly.

What key capabilities have you anchored in Singapore, and why Singapore?
 

Diana Gao (Chief Development Officer, Verdant): Singapore provides deep access to global capital and serves as a neutral platform for engaging international lenders, Development Finance Institutions, and co-investors. For a platform focused on long-term investments in emerging markets, proximity to capital providers and institutional partners is essential.

As our regional headquarters, Singapore is where we anchor investment decisions, capital raising, treasury, legal structuring, and portfolio management. This allows us to operate efficiently across Southeast Asian markets while maintaining strong governance. For example, our Vietnam rooftop solar and Philippines wind and solar projects are developed locally but structured and financed from Singapore.

Singapore’s strong legal and regulatory framework, stable regulatory environment, highly skilled talent pool, and excellent connectivity are also factors that allow us to anchor a regional renewable energy platform here. 

Nitin Apte (CEO, Vena Group): APAC is highly diverse, with markets developing at different speeds and under distinct regulatory environments. Singapore is our strategic centre of gravity, a base that supports long-term decision-making across that complexity.

Singapore provides access to the capital and structuring expertise needed to finance large-scale, cross-border energy projects. The 300 MW Opus Solar project in the Philippines was financed through a US$210 million green loan structured from Singapore with international lenders. Initiatives such as the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance bring greater clarity to green and transition activities, helping direct capital towards credible projects.

Singapore also positions us for growth shaped by data centres, AI, and digital infrastructure. Through Vena Energy, we are scaling renewable generation. Through Vena Nexus, we are also developing digital infrastructure to support the growing energy needs of the data economy.

"Singapore is where ideas are developed, capital is structured, and the next phase of growth takes shape."

Tim Fischer (Global Senior Director (Wind), Ramboll): Singapore serves as Ramboll’s regional headquarters for Asia-Pacific, where we deliver a wide range of multidisciplinary services across the region, spanning renewable energy including wind and solar, resilient urban development, and data centre infrastructure.

Access to a diverse and highly skilled talent pool allows us to build strong, multidisciplinary teams with expertise across engineering, advisory, and sustainability, which is essential for delivering increasingly complex projects across markets.

Singapore’s strong focus on decarbonisation, climate resilience, and sustainable urban development also aligns closely with Ramboll’s strategic priorities. It provides an environment where new solutions, and business models can be developed, tested, and scaled for regional markets.

Combined with Singapore's reputation as a trusted hub and its strong regional connectivity, this makes it an ideal base for coordinating regional and global project delivery.

How do you see APAC’s renewable energy transition evolving over the next five years, and what role will Singapore play?

Nitin Apte (CEO, Vena Group): Global renewable capacity will expand significantly over the next five years, with APAC playing a major role.

System integration will shape what comes next. Grids and interconnections will determine how effectively renewable energy scales.

Demand is also changing. AI, data centres, and digital infrastructure are becoming major drivers of electricity consumption. In Southeast Asia, demand is expected to more than double by 2030, accelerating the need for reliable, low-carbon power. Singapore sits at the centre of these shifts, and for us, it will remain the launchpad from which we turn strategy into scale.

Nitin Apte (CEO, Vena Group): The renewable energy landscape in APAC is entering a pivotal phase. Onshore renewables will continue to accelerate due to cost and speed. However, they alone will not meet future energy demand. Offshore wind, despite current headwinds, is essential and expected to regain momentum.

In the short term, the industry is undergoing a necessary reset. Previous aggressive bidding has led to market corrections, creating space for new players, including local developers and demand-driven investors such as data centre operators.

At the same time, auction models are evolving in a positive direction, with increasing adoption of more balanced, risk-mitigated frameworks such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs).

APAC will remain one of the key offshore wind growth engines, driven by demand from emerging markets such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Australia, in addition to established offshore wind markets in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Singapore will play a central role for us in supporting the next wave of projects.

Siva Sreedharan (Chief Investment Officer, Verdant): The APAC renewable energy market is set for strong growth over the next five years, driven by rising power demand, decarbonisation goals, and improving project economics. Southeast Asia will be a key growth region, although execution will remain complex due to regulatory and grid constraints.

We expect continued growth in distributed generation, corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), and hybrid solutions, alongside gradual market evolution such as Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) frameworks. Access to long-term local currency financing will be increasingly important.

"Singapore will remain central to Verdant’s growth as our capital and structuring hub."

For these companies, Singapore continues to play that central role in developing and delivering projects across the region. Interest has been growing.

Just in May this year, Recharge and Hamburg Messe partnered with Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) to organise the inaugural RECHARGE Wind Power Summit Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Over 1,500 representatives attended the show to explore partnership opportunities and discover the latest trends and happenings in Asia.

EnterpriseSG, the government agency driving enterprise development and international partnerships, is geared to do more. Said Mr Wong Zeng Yi, Assistant Managing Director (Manufacturing) at EnterpriseSG, “By facilitating partnerships between international players and Singapore enterprises, we help local companies contribute their capabilities to global supply chains while supporting renewable energy deployment across the region,” said Mr Wong Zeng Yi, Assistant Managing Director (Manufacturing) at EnterpriseSG. “We look forward to connecting with the global wind community during WindEnergy Hamburg in Germany, and again in Singapore for WindEnergy Asia-Pacific in May 2027.”

Source: RECHARGE. Permission required for reproduction.

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Footnotes:

¹ http://kpmg.com/sg/en/insights/esg/asia-pacifics-energy-transition-how-fast-and-how-far-can-it-go.html