New SARA platform tackles Southeast Asia’s green investment gap

The Sustainable Asia Renewable Assets (SARA) aims to address the shortage of investable, high-quality clean energy assets in the region.  

FMO, British International Investment (BII), and SUSI Partners’ newest platform SARA is targeting a 500 megawatts (MW) of clean energy projects across Southeast Asia, along with addressing the lack of investable, high-quality clean energy assets in the region.

“There is a big imbalance between the amount of capital waiting on the sidelines in Southeast Asia and the number of companies ready to receive them,” said Rohit Anand, Regional Head (South-East Asia) and Head of Infrastructure Equity, Asia, at BII. “We intend to build a platform with top-tier governance and capable management teams to close this gap.”  

While Southeast Asia’s renewable energy potential is vast, many investors hesitate due to inconsistent project quality and governance standards. Anand noted that the region requires “a couple of hundred billion dollars” for its energy transition but lacks the robust platforms that large institutional investors trust.  

“We are looking to build a scaled portfolio of 500MW over the next three to four years to demonstrate that you can build high-quality businesses in this region,” Anand explained. “You need well-governed companies to attract the kind of capital that can accelerate the energy transition.”  

SARA’s unique approach lies in its commitment to developing projects that meet stringent technical, environmental, and social standards from the outset. This model, according to Wymen Chan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at SUSI Partners, sets SARA apart from other platforms.  

“Where SARA stands differently is that we are going to implement all of these things ourselves,” Chan said. “If we can start this from scratch, we can maintain the standards better, more consistently across the different jurisdictions in Southeast Asia.”