KUALA LUMPUR (March 2): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) via wholly-owned subsidiary TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd has entered into a binding term sheet of collaboration with Singapore-based Sunseap Group to tap into the renewable energy (RE) and corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) market in Singapore. 

TNB president and chief executive officer Datuk Baharin Din said in a statement today the collaboration is timely in anticipation of the tender launch by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority for a trial of the Malaysia-Singapore cross-border energy supply. The launch is expected to take place this month (March 2021), he said.

“This (collaboration) will be TNB’s first foray into Singapore’s RE market and the group will be well-positioned to tap into the attractive and rapidly growing corporate PPA segment,” Baharin said.

According to TNB’s statement, which was attached to the company's Bursa Malaysia filing today, Baharin disclosed that the collaboration will, among others, target strategic clients such as RE100 companies and multinational corporations.

The initiative is expected to drive growth in clean and green energy demand within the region in the coming years, according to him.

TNB claimed in the statement that Sunseap is one of the top solar rooftop companies in Southeast Asia and the largest solar company in Singapore with a fully integrated solar business including a presence in the energy retail segment. 

"It has a net capacity of 1.2GW across 11 markets and more than 200 assets in various stages of development. Sunseap has a track record of securing long-term corporate PPAs with the likes of big-name clients such as Microsoft and Facebook,” TNB claimed.

The collaboration with Sunseap is an important milestone for the expansion of TNB’s international RE footprint into Southeast Asia. 

According to TNB, the company’s present RE portfolio consists of 2,732.3MW in Malaysia and 666MW across the UK, Turkey and India comprising mainly solar, wind and hydro energy generation assets.

"In line with reimagining TNB’s strategy to grow renewable energy capacity under the Future Generation Sources strategic pillar, TNB aims to grow its overall RE portfolio to 8,300MW by 2025,” TNB said.

Baharin described the collaboration as a big step forward towards achieving this goal.

“Following our successful investments in the UK RE businesses through Vortex Solar and Tenaga Wind Ventures, the collaboration with Sunseap is an important step to continue our ongoing international RE expansion strategy. 

"This collaboration provides a solid regional platform with the capabilities, capacity and network to grow our RE and utility businesses in Southeast Asia,” he said.

At Bursa’s 12:30pm break today, TNB’s share price settled eight sen or 0.78% higher at RM10.40, which values the company at about RM59.28 billion. Some 3.54 million shares were traded.

TNB has 5.7 billion issued shares, according to the company’s latest quarterly financial results filing with Bursa.