Energy Policy ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎

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Energy Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol

Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia

Thiam Hee Ng a, Jacqueline Yujia Tao b,n
a
Asian Development Bank, Philippines
b
Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore, 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Block A #10-01, Singapore 119620, Singapore

H I G H L I G H T S

This study looks at the current financing gap and RE financing landscape in developing Asia.

LCY corporate bonds, asset backed projects bonds and financial green bonds could help to address the financing gap for RE in the region.

Policy recommendations for building the fixed income market for RE projects are provided.

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Addressing the financing gap for renewable energy (RE) projects in Asia is critical to ensure that the
Received 17 September 2015 rapidly increasing energy needs could be met sustainably. This paper explores the cause of the financing
Received in revised form gap in Asia and proposes the use of bond financing to address the financing gap. Specifically, three fixed
6 February 2016
income instruments, namely local currency denominated (LCY) corporate bonds, asset backed project
Accepted 13 March 2016
bonds and financial green bonds, will be assessed. Whilst the potential for these three instruments to
mobilize large flows of private sector financing is great, key supportive policies aimed at reducing the
Keywords: capital market bias for conventional power generation technologies and supportive RE policies are re-
Renewable energy financing quired. Another key aspect would be the necessary deepening of local and regional fixed income markets
Fixed income
before such capital market instruments are able to play a big role.
Green bond
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Renewable energy bonds

1. Introduction Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member state are capable of

generating between 120 and 400 TWh of energy annually from RE
Driven by rapid economic growth and demographic changes, sources by 2030. Despite favourable policies and the increasing
Asia's share of world energy consumption is expected to rise from cost-competitiveness of RE projects,1 a sizable investment gap is
around a third in 2010 to more than half by 2035 if they continue still seen in the industry. A report by Sustainable Energy for All,
on their current growth path (ADB, 2013). At the same time, an- estimated that to meet its goal of achieving a global 50% of elec-
thropogenic climate change is shifting the global development tricity generation from renewable sources by 2030, there is an
pathway towards cleaner and more sustainable energy use, sig- annual funding gap of US$167billion (SE4ALL, 2015). Albeit their
nalling the need for rapidly developing economies in Asia to in- ambitious target, their results showcase a significant lack of in-
corporate more clean and green capacity into their energy needs. vestment in the RE sector. Such claims are also supported by
Most Asian economies have acknowledged the benefits and thus academic literature with Ekholm et al. (2013) warning that lack of
have embraced the need for the introduction of more renewables financing constrains the region's ability to meet its RE investment
into their energy mix. Various supportive policies, such as the target. Thus it is important to examine the causes of the financing
establishment of renewable energy targets and the introduction of gap in the region and propose solutions to ensure that sufficient
Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) have been seen across the region. capital in channelled into the RE sector to ensure future energy
The potential for large-scale renewable energy (RE) deploy- needs of the region are met sustainably.
ment is very high. According to a 2010 International Energy This paper aims to first provide a comprehensive under-
Agency (IEA) report (Ölz and Beerepoot, 2010), apart from Singa- standing of causes of the financing gap in Asia and propose
pore, who faces serious land constraints, each Association of
1
International Renewable Energy Agency (2015), finds that wind and hydro-
n
Corresponding author. power are already cost competitive with conventional fossil fuel plants. Solar PV
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.Y. Tao). have also reached grid parity in various economies in Asia.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.03.015
0301-4215/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.enpol.2016.03.015i
2 T.H. Ng, J.Y. Tao / Energy Policy ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎

solutions to bridge this gap. The paper then proposes the use of expected from the project to compensate investors for the higher
fixed income instruments, i.e. bonds, to close the existing finan- risk taken (Sovacool, 2009). In addition, RE projects require high
cing gap. Specifically, three different instruments, local currency upfront capital cost as a proportion of total costs. The high initial
(LCY) corporate bonds, asset-backed project bonds and the fi- costs are also often front-loaded which signals that even when all
nancial green bonds, will be explored in detail. other financing terms are similar, RE projects are considered more
costly and therefore less commercially attractive to investors
(Brunnschweiler, 2010).
2. Literature review Given the nascent nature of the industry, most RE players are
new small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with smaller market
The financing gap could be framed using two different but in- capitalization and possibly poorer track records as compared to
terrelated aspects of RE project economics: access to finance and established conventional energy producers. Under the current fi-
the cost of capital. The access to finance refers to the pool of fi- nancial system, RE SMEs would be perceived to be less cred-
nances available for RE projects whereas the cost of capital refers itworthy as compared to established conventional energy players,
to the cost at which financing is raised. The availability of financial therefore is expected to have higher cost of capital, making their
resources directly impacts RE deployment as it determines if a RE projects less attractive to investors (Wiser and Pickle, 1998). The
project can proceed to the deployment and operational stage. RE size of RE developers and their lack of track record not only in-
projects are typically financed with a mix of equity and debt. crease their cost of capital, but also limit their choice of financial
Whilst the portion of debt ranges around 70–90% in developed instruments. Typically, established organizations can leverage on
economies, RE projects in emerging economies would require the use of corporate finance, which are debt raised based on the
higher equity injection (30–40%) due to the inability to raise suf- balance sheet of the organization with the cost of financing at-
ficient debt (UNEP, 2007). This creates pressure for RE project tached to the credit worthiness of the organization. However
developers in developing economies to raise higher equity con- smaller organizations, such as RE project developers typically do
tributions, and their inability to do so usually leads to the failure of not have the market capitalization and the track record to rely on
those RE projects to reach financial closure. Existing studies from such financing instruments (Wiser and Pickle, 1998). These smaller
the UNEP (2005) have also showcased that challenges of raising organizations would have to rely on project financing, which is
equity is one of the major contributing factors to the slow de- debt raised on the credit worthiness of a specific project, which
ployment of low-carbon projects. Glemarec (2011) echoes this are backed by project economics alone(Wiser and Pickle, 1998).
view, claiming that raising equity capital is critical for RE projects Given higher associated risks, such debt usually comes at a higher
in developing countries. cost. Carlos and Khang's assessment of biomass energy projects in
The cost of capital impacts the profitability of projects, which is Southeast Asia (Carlos and Khang, 2008) validates such state-
a key investment criterion for financiers (Eyraud et al., 2011; ments. Carlos and Khang (2008) examined the financing structure
Sonntag-O’Brien and Usher, 2006). Various existing literature have of typical biomass projects in the region and highlighted three
framed the cost of capital to be the main hindrance to RE mobi- main sources of finance: balance-sheet financing, corporate fi-
lization given that the higher cost of capital will directly impact nance and project finance. Their study found that while corporate
project returns, thereby affecting the projects bankability. Wiser finance is the most commonly used financing channel, projects
and Pickle (1998) argued that the reduced cost of capital could utilizing the higher cost project finance often face difficulties in
improve the RE project returns, thereby improving project at- attaining financial closure. The smaller size of RE industry players
tractiveness to investors. Using a discounted cash flow model, also translates to higher transaction costs (Curnow et al., 2010),
Wiser and Pickle (1998) showed that financing inputs, such as which may limit their ability to raise additional capital from ex-
required return on equity, debt interest rates and debt tenure, have ternal financing sources.
significant impacts on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for RE Acknowledging the lack of financing for RE globally, Zadek and
projects. In addition, their study showed that the implicit elements Zhang (2014) argued for stronger intervention in the financial
of financing such as the length of debt tenures can also affect system, which is a potential solution to the financing constraints
project profitability. Specifically, their model showed that simply faced by RE projects. Unfortunately, the relative immaturity of the
increasing the debt tenure from 12 to 20 years will reduce LCOE financial system in the region would have largely limited the scale
for wind and solar PV by 12% and 17% respectively (Wiser and of such interventions in Asia. Currently, financial systems in Asia
Pickle, 1998). Their results were supported by a research piece remain highly bank-dominated. With the exception of Singapore,
from the Climate Policy Initiative (Nelson and Pierpont, 2013) Malaysia and Thailand, most ASEAN countries still rely heavily on
which estimated that unfavourable financing terms, specifically the banking sector with minimal involvement of the capital mar-
the high cost of debt in India, is expected to increase RE costs by kets, with least developed countries such as Cambodia, Lao PDR
24-32% in India compared to US. In this paper, we define financing and Myanmar still in the process of building a functional banking
gap to be the inability of utility-scale RE project developers to gain system. The relative immaturity of the level of financial develop-
required capital amounts at an appropriate cost. ment in the region is also viewed to have a widening effect on the
There seem to be two contributing factors for the financing gap financing gap faced by RE projects (Painuly and Wohlgemuth,
in Asia. Firstly, capital market failures have placed RE projects at a 2008). The lack of financial diversification widens the financing
financing disadvantage compared to conventional power projects. gap as there is a lack of financial intermediation to match in-
Capital market imperfections may arise due to imperfect in- vestments and investors with the appropriate financial instru-
formation, risk aversion, or agency problems (Wiser and Pickle, ments, which results in both inadequate access to capital and in-
1998). First and foremost, it is important to recognize that in- creased cost of capital (ADB, 2015; Painuly and Wohlgemuth,
vestors typically benchmark utility-scale RE projects with con- 2008).
ventional fossil fuel power generation projects (IPCC, 2014). Due to their dominance in the financial sector, banks are the
Compared to such conventional energy projects, the relatively most active in financing RE in the region. Bank based RE financing
nascent RE industry faces issues with regards to lack of financier could be done through term loans, project loans, mezzanine loans
familiarity, due to imperfect information in the industry. The lack and refinancing. A review of the database of Bloomberg New En-
of understanding of the risks of the industry may contribute to ergy Finance (BNEF) reveals that term loans are popular instru-
higher perceived risk of such projects, of which higher returns are ments for RE financing in Asia, particularly in India and China.

Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
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BNEF (2015) finds that asset finance (mostly in the form of term RE projects. Indeed, evidence of this implication has been illu-
loan instruments) account for 73% of total RE investment in China. strated with the 320 MW Sarulla Geothermal Power Development
While banks are likely to continue to play a dominant role in fi- Project in North Sumatra, Indonesia. ADB provided the initial $350
nancing RE in the region, new Basel III regulations could make million financing support through its ordinary capital resources,
banks more reluctant to lend long term. The new Basel III rules its Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the CEFPF. After which, it was
aim to ensure that banks have liquid and high quality assets so able to leverage on private finance from six commercial banks to
that they can better ride out periods of stress. These liquidity re- provide a $1.17 billion loan package. In spite of its ability to
quirements tend to penalize long-term loans for which there is no leverage on the private sector and mobilize capital into the RE
active secondary market. RE loans tend to fall under this category sector, such public sector financing channels are generally believed
and will likely find it harder to access bank financing. It may also to be unsustainable investment due to limited fund size and slow
raise the financing cost. Although banks still have some time to churn rates.
implement the new Basel III regulations, they may have started Besides supporting RE deployment by introducing favourable
cutting back already on long-term lending as these loans will still policies, the government is also seen to be a direct financier of RE
likely be on their books when the Basel III regulations come into projects in the region. Besides direct equity injection, the public
force. In addition, by its nature, RE projects tend to have project sector is also seen offering soft loans from public financial institu-
structures which may make them less attractive from the per- tions or issuing loan guarantees. However, given that government
spective of bankers. Typically, under the current financing land- finances are already overstretched in many developing countries in
scape, financiers would tend to reasonably favour conventional Asia, it is unlikely that this financing channel can mobilize the suf-
energy projects which have a longer track record, a lower upfront ficient funds to fill the investment gap. Gujba et al. (2012) noted that
costs to maintenance cost ratio, shorter payback periods and fa- international donors and government financing are playing a more
vourable policy incentives over RE projects (Sonntag-O’Brien and important role in RE financing in Asia. However, with large pool of
Usher, 2006). There needs to a shift in incentives to motivate a investable funds in Asia, illustrated by the expanding assets under
change in preference towards RE projects. Furthermore, commer- management (AUM) of Asian institutional investors (Pwc, 2014),
cial banks in emerging economies are expected to already hold private sector is expected play a major role in financing RE.
large energy-related assets from national utilities, thereby limiting The financing gap in Asia is hypnotised to be due to capital
market imperfections favouring conventional power projects over
their ability to lend to emerging RE sectors (IPCC, 2014).
RE projects and the lack of financial diversity and development in
the region. Arguably, the main constraint of RE financing in Asia
would be in the limited availability of different financial instru-
ments in the region. Despite the inherent unfavourable financing
conditions of RE, developed economies are not experiencing in-
vestment shortfalls similar in scale as Asia. In the same SE4ALL
report cited earlier, European economies are seen to be mobilizing
sufficient funds into the RE sector (SE4ALL, 2015). Although an
argument could be made that favourable policies were introduced
to account to prioritise RE investment, the same could be said of
Asian economies. Across Asia, policymakers have adopted various
RE supporting policies such as FiTs, which have been utilized in
Europe. The difference between European RE markets and Asian
Fig. 1. LCY Corporate Bonds and Bank Loans as a Share of GDP. GDP ¼gross do-
market then lies in the existing RE financing landscape. European
mestic product, LCY ¼ local currency. Note: Data as of end-December 2014. Source: markets have seen the effective utilization of innovative financial
Produced by the authors using data from Bloomberg LP. instruments, such as green bonds, yieldcos and other alternative
instruments. In contrast, banks or public sector agencies largely
The lower level of capital market development (stock and bond fund RE in Asia. Therefore, the key contributor to the financing gap
market) compared to the banking sector in the region, limit the in Asia would be the lack of diversity of financial instruments in
ability of RE developers to seek alternative sources of finance Asia to match projects with suitable investors by aligning their risk
(Fig. 1). Government bonds dominate the domestic fixed income and return paradigms.
market, with corporate bond issuances rarely accounting for more
40% of domestic GDP (ADB, 2015). In terms of equity markets, only
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were able to have a market ca- 3. Analysis and discussion
pitalization surpassing their GDP. The restricted development of
With the lack of financial diversity being the major contribut-
capital markets constrains private investment channels, thus for-
ing factor of the investment gap, opening up alternative financing
cing RE developers to seek public sector finances. Within Asia,
channels would serve to bridge the financing gap and rapidly
multilateral development banks such as World Bank and Asian
mobilize funds into RE project in the region. Tapping private sector
Development Bank (ADB) have provided technical assistance and
funds would be critical in expanding the pool of credit available.
financing for RE projects. These institutions offer market-based
Bond instruments are well-positioned to address the symptoms of
financing and also concessional financing for low-income coun- the financing gap, namely access to finance and cost of capital.
tries and are seen to be very active in facilitating RE investment in Firstly, the flexibility of bond instruments allow for funds to be
Asia. ADB has set up various financing facilities to support RE raised from investors from the whole risk spectrum, hence ex-
development in the region. The Clean Energy Financing Partner- panding the total credit pool. Whilst risky-taking investors may
ship (CEFPF) was established in 2007 with the aim to provide fi- invest in junk bonds with high yields issued by companies or
nancial resources to for clean energy projects. From 2005 to 2009, projects with poor credit ratings, more risk-averse investors may
ADB has invested a total of $5 trillion in clean energy in Asia (ADB, choose to invest in investment grade bonds issued by organiza-
2014). Spratt and Griffith-Jones (2013) argue that support from tions or projects with strong credit ratings. Also, since bonds offer
multilateral banks may serve to leverage private sector finance for the opportunity to disperse ownership of the debt across a group

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of investors, financiers find it easier to invest indirectly in RE financial system, with rigid risk and return structures restricts
through bond as opposed investing directly through loans or both the borrower and lenders pool. Furthermore, it introduces
equity ownership. Furthermore, the presence of a secondary systemic risks into the financial system, thereby increasing risks of
market for bonds promotes liquidity, thereby offering financiers a financial instability. This would, in turn, contribute to the problem
short-term exit strategy, and a shorter payback period. This is of of deterring active domestic private sector participation in the fi-
particular interest for investors with short investment horizons. nancial market, thereby impeding financial market development.
Secondly, the attractiveness of bond instruments lies in their This then, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of a limited market. In
ability to garner interest from a specific investor group which have addition, the heightened financial risks involved in the inherent
an interest in RE project. Globally, institutional investors, such as homogenous financial system deter participation from interna-
insurance funds, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) tional financial intermediaries with more sophisticated markets.
and pension funds, are increasingly interested to invest in RE Without foreign participation and the increased sophistication
projects. These institutional investors have approximately $80 brought along by this participation, developing Asian financial
trillion assets under management (Nelson and Pierpont, 2013), markets are likely to remain illiquid and small. The homogenous
representing an extensive source of potential RE financing. These financial structure seems to promote a series of self-feeding re-
investors have a long term risk outlook and are increasingly trying actions that could only serve to limit market growth and widen
to limit their carbon and climate risk exposure. An important the financing gap of RE projects. The promotion of bond instru-
element here is that funds that have long-term liabilities would ments to finance RE projects could serve to drive in domestic,
seek to balance those liabilities with long term assets. This allows regional and international institutional capital that would not only
institutional investors to become a more significant source of long- offer larger pools of available credit to RE projects, but also deepen
term investment in renewables. Green infrastructure investments, the current financial system. Furthermore, the deepening of fi-
such as RE projects, offer investment opportunities for institu- nancial systems also contributes to the gradual improvement fi-
tional investors that are a good fit with their long-term liabilities nancial intermediation services.
and investment mandates. A 2013 survey conducted by EY found Financing of RE projects through the capital market could
that nearly one-third of institutional investors surveyed expected promote transparency in the market, thereby minimizing in-
to increase RE investments in the next three years, and 15% expect formation asymmetry in the industry. The disclosure requirements
it to increase by over 10% (EY, 2013). Such assertions are supported of capital markets requires both project developers and financiers
by market data with BNEF claiming that institutional investors' to provide a greater diversity of perspectives from various stake-
interest in RE financing led to massive growth in green bonds, holders, such as investors and intermediaries that could provide
yieldcos and quoted project funds (Frankfurt School, 2015). How- independent evaluation and second opinions on the projects.
ever to attract these investors, the investment will have to be Furthermore, the transparency and disclosure requirements would
packaged in a form that they are familiar with and comfortable to help to strengthen price discovery, information identification and
invest in. Currently, 50% of assets held by institutional investors risk pricing for the projects. As the market deepens, related ex-
are in the form of bonds (Nelson and Pierpont, 2013). pertise could be built internally, thereby expanding and improving
In terms of lowering the cost of capital, the cost of bond fi- the financial services sector, enforcing strength of related infra-
nancing is likely to be lower than equity investments and other structure, thereby contributing to building of the national capital
debt based financing such as bank loans. Corporate finance theory markets.
dictate that fixed income products are likely to be cheaper than The ensuing sections explore three different bond instruments,
bank loans due to the lower monitoring costs and dispersed namely local currency (LCY) corporate bonds, project bonds and
ownership. Dispersed ownership translated to distributed risk, financial green bonds, which can be utilized for RE financing in the
thereby contributing to a lower risk premium and therefore lower region.
financing cost. Moreover, bonds offer a more compatible term In particular, LCY corporate bonds refer to corporate bonds is-
structure for RE project as compared to bank loans. Typical bond sued by RE companies in local currency. Corporate bonds are ty-
tenures range between 7 and 15 years, aligning with the payback pically backed by the balance sheet of the issuing organization,
periods for RE projects. In addition, bonds debt structure is aligned and thus is considered recourse financing. Project bonds, on the
to the project cash flow of RE projects. Due to the capital-intensive other hand, refer to fixed income instruments that are backed
nature of RE technologies, the initial years of the project lifecycle is solely by the economics of the underlying project or assets.
likely to experience negative cash flows. Bank-based financing Bondholders have no access to the balance sheet of the issuing
would require the project make amortized payments of both organization in case of a bond default and thus is viewed as non-
principal and interest. This will place additional constraints for recourse financing. Project bonds could be issued at the start of the
debt repayment prior to the recovery of capital. Bond financing project lifecycle or at the operational phase as asset-backed se-
allows for delayed principal repayments, which allows RE projects curities (ABS). Green bonds refer to an emerging bond class that
to generate returns and cover the capital costs across a range of are marketed as green. Green bonds could take the form of cor-
payback periods. As such, implicit cost of financing are also re- porate bonds, project bonds and asset-backed bonds. Flexibility of
duced with the usage of bonds. Fixed income instruments, speci- the green bond instrument allows financial institutions who aim
fically asset-backed securities, when used as refinancing tools, to increase lending to RE sectors to raise funds publicly through
could also serve to lower cost of financing and reduce the in- issuing a financial bond, thereby widening the financial options for
vestment gap by freeing up cash to invest in new projects. RE players.
Taking a policymaker's perspective, the promoting the use of
alternative financing mechanisms such as bonds, have benefits 3.1. Local currency corporate bond
that goes beyond bridging the investment gap. It could also serve
to promote diversification of the financial infrastructure. The cur- The most direct way to utilize bonds for RE financing would be
rent overreliance on bank financing creates multiple self-feeding for RE companies to issue corporate bonds. Globally, RE sector
issues that may increase the vulnerability of the existing financial bonds have been increasing rapidly. Since 2010, total bonds issued
system. Firstly, the domination of one financing channel may by RE corporations have increased from $5.2 billion to $18.3 billion
crowd out development of other capital markets, thereby limiting (Fig. 2). Asia has been leading the way in using bonds. However,
the total credit available. In addition, the homogeneity of the almost all (90%) of the renewable sector bonds in Asia has come

Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
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from China (Fig. 3). This is consistent with the overall trend of could be seen as a way to bypass inefficiency of local financial
increasing investment in RE sector in developing countries. Zadek markets and gaining lower costs of capital. But it comes at a price
and Flynn (2013) find that about half of global RE infrastructure as international debt tends to be priced in foreign currency,
investment in 2012 came from developing countries with China usually US dollar. So taking on foreign debt would usually mean
accounting for the bulk of it. China presents a successful case- taking on exchange rate risk, as the revenue from the RE projects
study for other Asian countries, particularly those with strong would be in domestic currency. The foreign exchange rate risk
could be hedged but it would then probably offset most of the
domestic LCY markets such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
benefits in terms of lower yields. In addition, regional RE players
Strong government support in both the RE and financial inter-
without international recognition may face investor unfamiliarity,
mediation industry have facilitated the rapid expansion of RE in
thereby increasing perceived risks and cost of financing.
the People's Republic of China, thus to emulate the Chinese suc- With the region's LCY bond markets rapidly expanding, most
cess story, similar policies could be introduced. RE project developers have signalled a preference to issue in local
currency (Fig. 4). The main appeal of LCY corporate bonds is that it
is able to channel domestic and regional funds back into the re-
gion. Overall, Asia remains a capital surplus region with most
economies running current account surpluses. With high savings
rates across the region, the region in not short of capital. However,
the current trend we are seeing is the outflow of large sums of
domestic capital flowing into the low-return less risky overseas
assets as reflected by the region's growing foreign exchange re-
serves. Thus it is important for policymakers to shift capital flows
back into local investment projects. The creation of RE fixed in-
come products, which creates investment instruments with a low-
risk, steady returns paradigm, may serve to attract new domestic
and regional institutional investors, thereby facilitating the inflow
of capital back into the region while expanding the available credit
pool for RE projects.

Fig. 2. Renewable Energy Sector Bonds by Region. Source: Produced by the authors
using data from Bloomberg LP.

Fig. 4. LCY-Denominated Renewable Energy Bonds as Share of Total. Source: Pro-

duced by the authors using data from Bloomberg LP. Note: As of end 2014.

Fig. 3. People's Republic of China’s Renewable Energy Sector Bond Issuance. The target investors for LCY corporate bonds are domestic and
Source: Produced by the authors using data from Bloomberg LP. regional investors. Better knowledge of local conditions increase
willingness to finance RE projects. Local investors are usually better
One example of a recent RE bond issuance is Trina Solar able to assess the complicated risks of building and delivering RE
Limited2 from China. Trina Solar Limited is a large scale integrated projects. Better understanding of domestic regulations could also be
solar power products manufacturer including crystalline silicon PV an advantage to domestic investors. This is especially true in Asia
modules and solar system developer which issued a total of US$ where environmental regulations and incentives for investment in RE
115 million convertible senior notes in 2014 at 3.5% yield. Trina are evolving quickly. By being closer to the regulators may allow for
domestic investors better opportunity to take advantage of investment
Solar's first offering was in June 2014, of which a private place-
opportunities opening up. Regional investors, when equipped with
ment with institutional investors for US$ 140million issuance was
sufficient information and transparency, are also well-positioned to
completed. RE corporate bonds were met with favourable investor
invest in RE in the region. Regional players are more familiar with the
demand, as represented by the oversubscription of a similar bond region and thus assessing the risks and returns on RE projects differ-
in October bond which was able to increase borrowing from US$ ently from that of advanced economies investors. However, such in-
100 million to US$ 150 million. vestments must be facilitated by loosened regional capital controls,
Like Trina Solar, many RE players view accessing foreign debt increased forex risk management tools and regional cooperation.

2
3.2. Asset-backed project bonds
Trina Solar was founded in 1997 and specializes in manufacture of crystalline
silicon photovoltaic modules and system integration. It has various international
offices spanning Asia, Europe and North America. Trina Solar listed on the New In addition to “general use” bonds, there is a growing trend
York Stock Exchange in 2006. towards using project bonds. With project bonds, proceeds are

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j.enpol.2016.03.015i
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tied to specific projects or assets. Only cash flows from the un- However, for the securitization model to succeed, it is im-
derlying assets will be used to service the bond. Creditworthiness portant to ensure that the securitized security is liquid and easily
of the bond is thus based solely on the ability of the project to traded. This means there will need to be a well-developed bond
generate the necessary cash flows to cover the cost of the bond market and some standardization of the assets. It would also in-
and provide a return to the investors. Therefore, the organization volve having a regulatory framework that allows for the secur-
that develops the project is not liable in the case that the project itization of revenue streams. Greater transparency and availability
fails. of data could also make it easier to attract investors.
Tighter prudential regulations for banks brought in after the
global financial crisis has made project financing from banks more 3.3. Financial green bonds
expensive and difficult to obtain. Long-term loans are riskier and
now attract a higher risk weight under the new Basel III regula- Green bonds, whereby the issuer commits to the use of bond
tions. This hurts projects with long term paybacks such as RE proceeds only to environmentally-friendly products, has emerged
projects. With the payback period from RE projects very similar to to be a potential financing channel for RE. The key differentiating
that of bonds, it may make sense to package and structure it as a feature is that a green bond is marketed as green to investors and
project finance bond. This could be more cost effective than going their proceeds are ring-fenced to green projects. This is in contrary
through a bank. This is particularly useful for organizations with a to conventional bonds, of which the bondholder has no say over
preference for non-recourse finance. how the proceeds of the bond are utilized.
While there is no explicit deterrent of using project bond fi- When referring to green bonds, it is important to differentiate
nancing at the initial planning and construction phases, such ar- between labelled and non-labelled green bonds. Labelled green
rangements are rare. This is due to several factors. Firstly, debt bonds6 refers to bonds being marketed as green bonds, while the
restructurings are common for pre-construction loans for infra- non-labelled green bonds universe refers to bonds that are used
structure project. Debt issuances do not offer this flexibility with for environmentally friendly projects, but are not marketed as
its rigid covenants (Ehlers et al., 2014). Moreover, the main in- green bonds. Labelling provides an effective way to define and
vestor group for bonds are institutional investors who are ill- distinguish green bonds as a specific sub-universe of environ-
equipped to deal with pre-construction and construction risks. mental or green bonds. Thus, a particular strength of the (labelled)
These institutional investors prefer mature assets with stable cash- green bonds instrument to the issuer would be the ability to
flows, a structure that is highly aligned with operational RE assets. highlight environmentally friendly attributes and hence poten-
Banks are most likely to fill this pre-construction financing gap by tially attract investors with an Environmental-Social-Governance
extending bridging loans to RE developers whilst the bond issu- (ESG) mandate, which they were previously unable to tap due to
ance is being lined up. Additionally, asset-backed securities uti- information asymmetry and low visibility of their bond issuance.
lizing the yield company or “Yield Co” model, presents opportu- Issuing a green bond would also increase the visibility of the bond
nities for RE financing. The “Yield Co” investment structure is tar- to conventional investors, as the pool of green bond issuances is
geted at lowering cost of capital for RE projects by bundling var- smaller than the pool of conventional bond issuances and the in-
ious operational assets together. Under such structures, the risks vestor group for both asset classes are overlapping. The ability to
are reduced with pre-construction and construction risk elimi- highlight green attributes of green bonds could also improve
nated and the diversification of assets. The success of the “Yield Co” overall publicity and improve organization image, thereby broad-
model suggests that there could be great potential for the secur- ening their access to capital.
itization model to help improve liquidity and diversify the risk of Another strength of the green bonds is the flexibility of the
RE project bonds. Alafita and Pearce (2014) finds that securitiza- instrument. This flexibility is reflected in terms of the issuer re-
tion on solar asset backed securities can help reduce project fi- quirements, possible types of issuance and the terms of issuances.
nancing costs significantly. The first “Yield Co” was NRG Yield3 It is important to note that any organization is eligible to issuance
which raised $500 million in 2014 to finance a wind farm. In a green bond. The green credentials of the bond issuance lies not
January this year, TerraForm Power4 issued $800 million green upon the issuer, but the underlying projects or assets linked to its
bond at a fixed coupon of 5.875% to finance its acquisition of a issuance. While accrediting the green credentials to an underlying
wind farm. A comparison of the cost of financing of NRG Yield and asset opens up areas of controversy, particularly in terms of safe-
its parent company, NRG Energy,5 validates claims that secur- guarding green claims, it facilitates the active participation from a
itization reduce cost of financing. NRG Yield's coupon rate has 80 diversified spectrum of organizations. A strong argument for the
basis points advantage over bonds of similar tenor issued by its case would be that all organizations would need to transit towards
parent company. Moreover, the issuance of asset-backed bonds a low-carbon society, and as such, would require financing. Lim-
would allow RE players to “flip” their investments, thereby freeing iting the issuance of green bonds for only “green” organizations
up cash to invest in new projects, further contributing to the would therefore lock-in business-as-usual operations for a variety
closing of the financing gap. of organizations as they would lack the financing tools to shift to a
low-carbon model. For example, while RE companies may wish to
issue a corporate green bond to finance their projects; other power
3
RG Yield, Inc, established in 2012, is a dividend growth-oriented company, to generation organizations, who wish to expand into the RE sector
serve as the primary vehicle through which NRG Energy, Inc. owns, operates and
may also issue a green bond that is tied to the RE related section of
acquires contracted renewable and conventional generation and thermal infra-
structure assets. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of contracted renewable their operations. By opening up such financing channels, it can be
and conventional generation and thermal infrastructure assets in the U.S. Each of argued that organizations would be better positioned, and there-
these assets sells substantially all of its output pursuant to long-term offtake fore, have a higher likelihood to engage in environmentally
agreements with creditworthy counterparties, which represents secure cash flows.
4 friendly investments.
TerraForm Power is a diversified owner of clean power generation assets in
developed markets. This includes solar and wind assets located in the U.S., Canada Due to the flexibility of the green bond issuance, various fi-
and other developed markets. The assets are acquired through its sponsor, SunE- nancial sector players are seen to be tapping this market to gain
dison, and other high-quality third parties.
5
NRG is one of the largest solar power developers in the United States and
6
offers services that range from electricity service to electric vehicle charging, Henceforth, all references to green bonds would refer to the labelled green
rooftop solar to home maintenance. bonds segment.

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j.enpol.2016.03.015i
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additional funds to lend to low-carbon projects. The emergence of assess the environmental friendly nature of their loans. Therefore,
financial green bonds widens existing financing channels for RE financial green bonds seldom draw controversy. Given large ben-
projects. Since proceeds from green bonds would have to be ear- efits and limited costs, there have been a couple of financial green
marked to green projects, green financial issuances would then bonds issued in Asia. ADB has been one of the key players in the
imply the ring-fencing of an available pool of credit for green supranational, subnational and agencies (SSA) bond issuers (Fig. 5)
projects such as RE, ensuring the availability and stability of the whilst commercial banks are also warming to the idea. To date,
flow of funds into green energy. At the discretion of the financial ADB has issued various labelled and non-labelled green financial
institutions, preferential interest rates may also be offered. Cur- bonds. ADB sold its first Clean Energy Bonds raising US$232 mil-
rently, the market is witnessing the issuance of green financial lion to support its renewable energy and energy efficiency projects
bonds from commercial banks, policy banks and governmental in Asia and the Pacific in September 2010. This was followed in
agencies. Such issuances are critical in bridging the financial gap as May 2012 with the second sale of Clean Energy Bonds raising US
they address challenges of raising initial capital. As highlighted in $339 million. More recently, in March 2015, ADB raised US$500
the earlier section, bond instruments are well-suited for refinan- million from its inaugural green bond issue, aimed at channelling
cing purposes. Financial green bonds would be able to bridge this more investor funds to ADB projects that promote low-carbon and
gap as expanded credit facilities may allow more funds to flow into climate-resilient economic growth and development in develop-
initial start-up funds or as bridging loans. ing Asia. Issuances from commercial banks were also able to gain
Against these benefits, there are also additional costs asso- investor interest. The Export-Import Bank of India's7 US$500
ciated with issuing labelled green bonds. For example there are million bond was 3.2 times oversubscribed whereas a LCY financial
additional costs for certifying and monitoring the bonds. There green bond issuance by Yes Bank8 was able to double its bond
could also be risks that investors may seek penalties if the funds issuance amount due to oversubscription. This gives rise to opti-
are not used for their stated environmental purposes. The lack of a mism that apart from financial green bonds, other corporate iss-
universal standard on what is considered a green bond could make uances would also be able to gain investor interest.
some green claims contentious. Without a proper legal framework, Looking back at the recent green bond issuances in Asia, most
issuers and investors will have to decide themselves what qualifies LCY denominated issuances are able to attract significant propor-
as a green bond. Being a new market, industry standards and tions of local institutional investors, whereas bond issuances de-
practices is still in the formation stage. nominated in international currencies were able to gain interna-
tional investors. Although current trends seem to indicate regional
demand for green bonds, it is important to note that Asian fixed
income markets are largely undersupplied, and thus the investor
demand may in fact be in response to the bond issuance itself,
rather than the “green” factor. Although the eventual move to-
wards corporate green bonds will be preferred, cautious analysis
to assess market interest is required. In the meantime, green fi-
nancial bonds can serve to provide interim support by reducing
financing barriers of gaining debt finance.

4. Policy recommendations

Having highlighted the potential of utilizing fixed income in-

struments to close the financing gap in Asian RE industry, it is now
opportune to discuss elements of appropriate enabling environ-
ments to facilitate the uptake of conventional RE fixed income
instruments and green bonds.

4.1. Levelling the playing field for RE projects

While bonds offer a promising avenue for financing RE projects,

policy actions are needed to improve inherent project economics
of RE projects to attract investor participation. These can be jus-
tified by the positive environmental externalities that RE offers.
Possible policies include the introduction of carbon pricing or tax
credits for RE projects.
Additionally, there is a perception that RE firms are risky. But
generally, RE firms are not necessarily riskier. Donovan and Nuñez
(2012) find that from the perspective of an international investor,
Fig. 5. Green Bond Issuance by Region, 2007–2014. Source: Produced by the au-
thors using data from Bloomberg LP. the risks of RE firms in India, Brazil and PRC are comparable with

Financial green bonds are typically well-equipped to deal with 7

Export-Import Bank of India is the premier export finance institution set up
both the higher transaction costs and the lack of standardization of in 1982 under the Export-Import Bank of India Act 1981. Government of India
green. Firstly, these issuers, mainly banks and public sector launched the institution with a mandate, not just to enhance exports from India,
agencies, are typically well-capitalized and have capacity to in- but to integrate the country's foreign trade and investment with the overall eco-
nomic growth.
ternalize the transaction costs. In addition, monitoring of the use 8
Yes Bank, is India’s fifth largest private sector Bank, with a pan India presence
of proceeds would be significantly easier for financial institutions. across all 29 states and 7 Union Territories of India. Yes Bank offers services in
Moreover, such financial sector players typically have the ability to banking, finance and wealth management.

Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.enpol.2016.03.015i
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that of the overall market. The risks from the perspective of a further highlights the importance of capital mobility. Currently,
domestic investor are more varied. Indian RE firms have higher regional cross-border financial investment remains limited, as
than average market risk while Brazilian firms have lower than represented by the minimal regional presence of financial in-
average market risk. Meanwhile Chinese firms have average mar- stitutions. Intra-regional dialogues have been initiated to improve
ket risk. Furthermore, to a certain extent, investors may have been regional capital market integration. The Asian Bond Market In-
underestimating the risk of conventional energy firms. The threat itiative was initiated in 2003 to promote the development and
of tighter environmental regulations in the future could severely greater integration of bond markets in Asia within the region. To
affect their profitability. Moreover, while operational and market help standardize market practices and harmonize regulations for
risk exist for conventional power plant throughout the lifecycle of cross-border bond transactions, the ASEAN þ3 Bond Market For-
the projects, such risks are largely mitigated during the opera-
um was established in 2010. More recently, the ASEAN Economic
tional phase for RE projects. Therefore, an important priority now
Community which comes into effect at the end of 2015 can help to
is to help narrow the information gap for lenders who are con-
promote greater integration among the region's capital markets.
templating investing in RE. Making data on RE project costs and
Such efforts aimed at harmonizing financial regulations, informa-
performance more transparent will facilitate the participation of
tion systems, accounting standards should be continued. However,
institutional investors and reduce the cost of financing. Before
investing in infrastructure projects, investors typically would like these initiatives face various technical challenges, especially due to
to examine the track record of similar projects. Without historical the heterogeneous level of financial development across the re-
data on past financial performance, investors may be reluctant to gion. One potential issue that may arise from capital market in-
invest because they lack the information to make the necessary tegration and increased cross-border investments would be the
estimate of future returns. Making historical data publicly avail- determination of the appropriate cost of borrowing for a regional
able would improve transparency in the investment process. financial instrument when central banks rates are different across
Governments can also provide more information about the avail- the region. We view the disparities of cost of borrowing across the
ability of RE from their assessment and mapping of RE resources. region to be a function of different risks profiles and also differing
Another way to level the playing field for RE projects is to standards. The accurate assessment of an “appropriate yield”
provide credit guarantees that can reduce the cost of financing. would have to be based on the accurate assessment of risks with
Traditionally, this guarantee has been provided by governments, the required information. Information transparency remains an
but it carries a fiscal risk. Hence, the cost of providing the guar- issue for cross-border investors. In addition to lack of information,
antee has to be carefully weighed. Another way would be to set up the lack of a basis of comparison due to different accounting and
a dedicated fund to provide low cost financing for RE projects. This governance standards creates additional issues for investors. Such
can help narrow the cost disadvantage. As more RE projects are challenges would have to be overcome to improve investor con-
operational, investors may become more comfortable with in- fidence in regional investments.
vesting in them and the need for guarantees or low cost financing One way to encourage broader participation of SME RE players
will diminish. Tax incentives or exemptions for RE projects can in the bond market and deepen the capital market is to facilitate
also help reduce the cost differentials. retail bond issuance. The retail bonds are typically issued in
At the same time, polluting industries with negative environ-
smaller volume which could be attractive to small and medium
mental externalities should also bear the burden of their pollution.
sized companies. This can enable smaller RE companies to also tap
Traditionally, fossil fuel energy sources have not face the full costs
the bond market for financing. At present, apart from China, India
of the pollution they generate. To level the playing field between
and Thailand, the region does not have capital markets dedicated
fossil fuel and RE sources, fossil fuel energy sources should face
for SMEs. Policies aimed at building the legal and regulatory in-
higher costs. Higher taxes could be imposed on fossil fuel sources
to reflect more accurately the cost of the pollution that they cause. frastructure for SMEs to tap capital markets is thus required.
This would reduce the return on investing in fossil fuel, thus
making RE more competitive. 4.3. Preventive mechanisms for the robustness of green bond label
A stable regulatory regime can also work to reduce the risk of
investing in Polzin et al. (2015) finds that a long-term supportive The lack of robust definition of green and the self-regulating
policy framework for RE goes a long way towards promoting in- nature of the industry has raised doubts on safeguarding the green
vestment in RE capacity. Given the long-term nature of many RE bonds label. One way to prevent abuse of the green bond label
investments, the stability of the policy framework is very im- would be the creation of a national standard/system. This will
portant. Fabrizio (2013) found that US states that have backtracked entail creating a set of consistent step-by-step guidelines to ensure
in their regulations to promote RE attracted less investment sug- both the financial and environmental integrity of the green bond
gesting the policy uncertainty can deter new investment. Abol-
being issued. A procedural standard introduces flexibility into the
hosseini and Heshmati (2014) argued that feed-in-tariff could be
kind of projects that could be considered green while still ensuring
useful to reduce the risks to investors for RE projects. Supportive
procedural stringency. Such guidelines could be based on inter-
policies that are long-term and do not depend on annual budget
national standards such as the Green Bond Principles, or a na-
allocations tend to be favoured by investors.
tionally recognised scheme for identifying green investments,
4.2. Building deep capital markets should that be available. By adopting a procedural approach to
regulating the sector, investor confidence in the institution would
Deep capital markets are important to ensure sufficient li- not be compromised as consistency is achieved.
quidity to facilitate the issuance of bonds. In addition, it will be In addition, national and regional financial market regulators
important to develop a pool of long term investors that can invest could work with industry players to lay out specific legal and fi-
in these long-term bonds. Improving rules and legislation con- nancial penalties for the violation of green claims. Supporters of
cerning capital mobility not only increases attractiveness, but also the green bond instrument have conducted industry consultations
affects the accessibility for investors to tap the market. Besides on how to tackle potential legal contention in the area. Regional
building demand among domestic investors, it is also important to regulators could engage these industry experts to lay out formal
explore expanding the investor pool beyond national borders. This penalties of abuse.

Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.enpol.2016.03.015i
 T.H. Ng, J.Y. Tao / Energy Policy ∎ (∎∎∎∎) ∎∎∎–∎∎∎ 9

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Please cite this article as: Ng, T.H., Tao, J.Y., Bond financing for renewable energy in Asia. Energy Policy (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.enpol.2016.03.015i