Here's why BlackRock Assets is investing in Taiwan's renewable space

It bought Taiwanese firm J&V Energy’s solar portfolio of 28 assets in August.

When global investment firm BlackRock Assets bought the largest floating plant in Taiwan with 4.2MW capacity that powers homes in the coastal suburbs of Yong An, it marked the increased investment in Taiwan’s energy sector.

The plant is part of the portfolio that BlackRock Assets bought from Taiwanese firm J&V Energy. In total, the portfolio has 28 assets, which consists of operating and construction projects expected to be fully operational in 2019. 

BlackRock said it is positive that the assets offer the prospects of stable and long-term income for investors whilst securing attractive 20-year feed-in-tariff (FIT) contracts. Outside of the deal, however, lies a larger prospects of the country’s energy sector. Of all Asian markets, Taiwan stood out to the firm due to two factors.

Taiwan’s solar power shines
In an interview with Asian Power, portfolio manager of the BlackRock Renewable Power Charlie Reid said, “Firstly, the scale of the growth in the market is reaching a significant demand for capital to build renewable projects in Taiwan, which is attractive for us. Secondly, the projects are backed up by strong regulatory support through 20-year FITs in order to attract capital investment in the market.”

Taiwan’s renewables target of 25GW for 2025, of which 20GW will come from solar alone, is also attractive to the firm. “We’ve invested across a different range of renewable technology and we’d be keen to invest in onshore wind and offshore wind in the Taiwanese market as well, but solar is clearly gonna make out the lion’s share of new capacity additions over time in Taiwan,” said Reid.

He is also bullish towards the country’s energy targets. “When governments themselves set targets for renewable deployment, they tend to hit or exceed those, so the target is currently 20GW by 2025, and we think that the market will reach those levels. That involves a significant amount of deployment over the coming years and will require a significant amount of capital during that time,” the portfolio manager said.

When asked about future plans, Reid said, “There’s an ambitious programme of 5GW of offshore wind which has been/should be tendered in recent months. We’d be keen to play a role in that subsector as well.