SIEW Summit: Evolving Financial Models for the Energy Transition

The final panel discussion session at SIEW Summit brought together industry experts to discuss financing challenges and solutions for the energy future. Here are the key highlights from the session, which was moderated by Lavan Thiru, Executive Director, Infrastructure Asia.

• Jeanne Soh, Managing Director and Head of Structured Finance Asia, SMBC, noted that while solar, wind, and hydro investments benefit from strong policy frameworks, Southeast Asia still lacks consistent incentives for newer technologies like energy storage.
• Describing the evolving role of financial institutions in enabling the energy transition, Hideaki Iwasaki, Director General of Sectors Department 1, ADB, highlighted blended finance as an important building block—combining public and private capital to overcome bankability hurdles.
• Patrick Hill, President of Global Operations, Jacobs, pointed to three trends supporting investment: outcomes-based financing, robust early-stage planning (including offtake agreements), and tools like digital twins to build investor confidence.
• Energy startup Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo described the “missing middle” challenge—where first-of-its-kind deployments struggle to attract capital—and stressed the need for creative deal structuring and supportive policy signals like Japan’s CFD scheme.
• Panellists agreed governments must take the lead, through stable regulatory frameworks, incentives, and safety certifications, to unlock private capital, especially for grid projects. Raymond Poon, Director, the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department of Hong Kong, cited progress on green hydrogen certification. Carbon markets were also seen as opening up new revenue streams and making low-carbon projects more investor-friendly.

Stay tuned as the conversation evolves throughout the day. Follow @SIEW_sg on Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) for the latest insights.