Swiss clean energy fund manager SUSI Partners, through its Asia Energy Transition Fund (SAETF), has launched a platform for the development of utility-scale renewable energy assets in Southeast Asia in partnership with Singapore-based Pacific Impact Development, per an announcement.

The platform will focus on the greenfield development of solar PV, wind, and hydro assets with the ability to continue through financing, construction, and operation of the assets, SUSI said.

Pacific Impact will act as the developer and project manager for the platform. The company was founded by executive members of Infunde Development, an infrastructure developer in Southeast Asia. It has been operating in the ASEAN region since 2015, with its headquarters in Singapore and offices in Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Manila.

The joint venture with Pacific Impact marks SAETF’s fourth transaction in Southeast Asia and its entry into the utility-scale renewables space in the region.

SAETF was launched in 2019 with a targeted corpus of $250 million. The fund is understood to be eyeing a final close by May this year.

Dedicated to energy efficiency measures, microgrids, and commercial and industrial solar projects, SAETF has previously backed Singapore-based developer Entoria Energy, microgrid technology provider Canopy Power, and Malaysian renewable and clean energy firm Invest Energy.

Austrian development bank Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB) said in December 2022 that it invested $8.5 million in SAETF.

Meanwhile, SUSI announced a first close of $81 million for the fund in 2021, having raised capital from four development finance institutions as well as private institutional investors from Germany and Singapore.

In October last year, SAETF announced a partnership with the Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF), an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme, to accelerate the energy transition in Southeast Asia.

The ASEAN countries aim to have 23% of their primary energy supplied by renewables by 2025. “However, there remains a substantial investment gap, with the International Renewable Energy Agency estimating that annual financial flows into the Southeast Asian clean energy sector would have to more than double for these targets to remain within reach,” SUSI said in its Tuesday announcement.

It added that its collaboration with Pacific Impact is expected to catalyse international capital and drive forward the sustainable build-out of renewable energy capacity in the region.