Refinancing Milestone Year: Mature Assets Seek Long-Term Capital Takeover
The Green Finance and Capital Market Innovation Forum was held today (3rd) in Taipei at the Regent Hotel, bringing together representatives from credit-rating agencies, commercial banks, private equity, infrastructure funds, and securities investment trust and consulting firms. Participants noted that Taiwan's green energy funding challenge has extended from whether projects can obtain financing to how mature assets can be taken over by long-term capital, discussing how tools such as refinancing, project bonds and real estate investment trusts can build a long-term investment market for green energy assets.
2026 is regarded as Taiwan's green energy refinancing milestone year. The Hai Neng wind farm completed a NT$589億元 refinancing in April, attracting 31 financial institutions with oversubscription of more than 2 times; in July the Changbin solar-storage site also completed a 92億元 refinancing. As sites gradually enter commercial operation, recovering capital through refinancing and reallocating it to support the next batch of construction has become an important financial issue for the energy transition.
Project-Bond Pilots Advance Alongside REITs Fund Structure
Fitch Ratings Senior Managing Director Sajal Kishore said financing structures for renewable energy in Asia-Pacific vary widely, with debt tenors ranging from 3 to 20 years and differing repayment arrangements. Some markets face risks such as power-price volatility, offtaker credit, grid congestion and curtailment. Once renewable projects enter the operating phase and risks decline, it is an appropriate time to introduce capital-market financing; issuing bonds can help banks free up credit limits and create a capital-recycling cycle. India, Indonesia and Australia have widely used offshore US-dollar green bonds for financing, while Taiwan, with expanding corporate power purchase agreements and relatively strong offshore-wind generation performance and cash-flow predictability, helps reduce project-financing risks.
CTBC Bank Deputy General Manager Ching-Ting Li analyzed that after a wind farm enters commercial operation, with construction risk reduced and operating track records accumulated, its financing risk profile differs from the construction phase. Refinancing also offers an opportunity to lower the guarantee ratio of export credit agencies, releasing underwriting capacity for subsequent wind-farm development. Taking the Hai Neng wind farm as an example, 6 domestic financial institutions participated during the construction phase, rising to 17 after commercial operation and refinancing; the share of financing undertaken by domestic financial institutions increased from about 30% to about 67%. She suggested that securitization of green-energy assets should start with project bonds as pilots, as they are a market-familiar financing tool with a certain investor base, and successful issuance could further lay the foundation for promoting REITs.
In addition, the Financial Supervisory Commission has again listed the draft amendments to the Securities and Real Estate Investment Trust and Securities Investment Consulting Act as its sole priority bill in the current Legislative Yuan session, pushing hard for Taiwan REITs to adopt a fund structure. The bill is currently in party caucus negotiations, aiming to complete its third reading by the end of 2026, introducing a dual-track fund-and-trust system, allowing professional investment trust firms to issue REITs, and broadening investment targets from traditional offices to public infrastructure, green energy and data centers. Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association Chairman Chao-Wen Yu stressed that the association is actively supporting the government's trillion-dollar Invest in Taiwan policy; early green-energy buildout relied heavily on foreign capital, and promoting securitization of green-energy assets and developing REITs will help developers recycle funds for follow-on development and allow the general public to participate and share electricity-bill revenues. In the refinancing case of the Changbin over-100 MW floating solar-plus-storage site, the share undertaken by domestic financial institutions also rose from about 29% to about 51%, showing a trend of shifting from Taipower purchase contracts to corporate power purchase agreements.