Portugal's EDP to Sell Power Directly to Asian Nations to Increase their Footprint in APAC Region

By: Asia Business Outlook Team | Wednesday, 24 May 2023

As per an official, the renewables business of Portugal's largest utility, EDP, is in talks to sell power directly to Japanese and Korean enterprises in order to increase expansion in Asia, a change from its customary contracts with state agencies.

EDP Renovaveis SA (EDPR) plans to invest 21 billion euros ($23.12 billion) in renewables over the next four years, with the majority of the money going to North America and Europe, but it is banking on corporate deals to break into the Asia-Pacific region.

"We're actually in negotiation... and actually starting to open up to Japanese and South Korean corporates, which can itself be a huge enabler for growth," said Pedro Vasconcelos, the Asia-Pacific chief operating officer, in an interview.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for only 5% of the company's entire energy portfolio.

However, significant investments in renewable energy projects in Vietnam, as well as the acquisition of solar firm Sunseap, aided in increasing its Asia power generation capacity 25-fold in a year, to 712 megawatts (MW).

The utility is now trying to grow its footprint in Australia and China, as well as in Vietnam and Singapore.

Vasconcelos stated that EDPR intends to emulate its operations in the rich city-state, where it currently delivers green energy to Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Few Asian countries, unlike Europe and the United States, have clearly defined fiscal support legislation and policies, according to Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade, CEO of EDP and EDPR, however there are "some very interesting countries."

"It's really more a question of defining the clear regulatory framework so we can make long-term investments," Stilwell d'Andrade explained.

In the drive to green their grids and become carbon neutral, governments throughout the world have sought to combine tax income with incentives to attract new renewable energy investments.