reNIKOLA Holdings, a Malaysia-based renewable energy company, is looking to raise $438 million (2 billion ringgit) over the next three years to support renewable energy projects.
According to Reuters, reNIKOLA’s managing director, Boumhidi Adel, said that reNIKOLA plans to issue 390 million ringgit worth of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in August. He stated that this would be the first sukuk to be certified as a carbon bond.
Boumhidi Adel explained that certified climate bonds are financial instruments that hold assets and projects that contribute to a low-emission economy. He also mentioned that the company, which is 45% owned by Thailand's B.Grimm Power (BGRIM.BK), plans to complete the acquisition of Pimpinan Ehsan (PIMP.KL), a shell company in Malaysia, by the first quarter of 2024.
Adel stated that reNIKOLA plans to increase its operational and developmental renewable energy projects to 1 gigawatt peak (GWp) within the next 3 years. Currently, these projects have a total capacity of 178 megawatt peak (MWp).
He emphasized that the company's main focus is in Malaysia, but they are also exploring projects in the ASEAN region and South Asia. In addition to solar power, reNIKOLA is also interested in other forms of renewable energy such as biogas and green hydrogen.
The use of renewable energy is growing rapidly in South and Southeast Asia. Emerging economies in the region face serious problems with power outages due to unreliable grids. In addition, increasing climate change is driving demand for air conditioning, and also shifting the focus to the importance of adopting environmentally friendly energy sources.
In early May, the Paris-based International Energy Agency predicted that global investment in clean energy will continue to outpace spending on fossil fuels this year, indicating an increasingly dominant trend toward renewable energy.
