HD Renewable Energy (HDRE) held its pre-IPO investor conference on February 7, 2023, with SinoPac Securities being the underwriter. As the company aims to be listed on the Taiwan Innovation Board in early March this year, chairperson Yuan-yi Xie revealed that HDRE will soon begin building 300MW PV power stations and 400MW energy storage systems, both of which are scheduled to be connected to the national electrical grid in the next two years. The said powerhouses will likely make actual contributions starting in 2024.
Founded in 2016, HDRE focuses on electricity generation, electricity retailing and energy storage with its proprietary TITAN smart energy system. It also provides one-stop services from renewable energy system development to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) management and to electricity retailing. With a complete 5-year roadmap to power plant construction, HDRE has been targeting at the fishery–electricity symbiosis market, where it has garnered the development right to 1.5GW solar farms.
In addition to the efforts it made for renewable energy development, HDRE has partnered with numerous life insurance companies to create a green energy platform for the electricity generation sector, along with investments in expansion projects of solar farms and symbiotic zones of fishery electricity. Throughout 2022, the firm developed more than 100MW capacity after kicking off the construction of clean energy systems in Penghu and Tainan, Taiwan, with clients including Taiwan Mobile, E.SUN Bank, YUASA and other RE100 members as well as leading companies with high electricity consumption.
As Xie indicated, HDRE proposed the Star Chain Plan to develop its green energy business involving electricity generation, energy storage, and electricity retailing. Regarding electricity generation, it aims to establish a generation capacity of 1GW using renewable energy. Its joint ventures Star Power Energy and Aquastar Energy own several ground-mounted solar farms and zones of fishery–electricity symbiosis with a total capacity of 1GW energy storage. The company has also joined various PV and energy storage service projects.
Concerning electricity retailing, Xie explained that HDRE’s subsidiary Star Exchange, by positioning itself as a “green energy manager”, had provided consultation services for more than 50 brands and achieved annual wheeling of more than 5 million kWh as of 2022. Moreover, the subsidiary provided its first-ever wheeling service for small- and mid-sized enterprises. HDRE will proceed to integrate resources associated with behind-the-meter storage, charging stations, data centers, and demand response aggregation for factories and businesses.
The Star Chain Plan comprises the use of the TITAN system, based on which energy storage systems will be put into operation in 1Q23. Xie added that STAR-EV-CHARGE (another subsidiary of HDRE) has signed a partnership deal with FamilyMart, planning to establish 120 KW EV chargers next to ten of the convenience franchise’s stores in Taiwan, allowing EV owners to plug in their car while shopping in the store. In 2022, the construction of three charging stations was launched, totaling a capacity of nearly 100KW.
In respect of 2023 earnings guidance, Xie highlighted that HDRE is likely to accomplish the construction of several clean energy bases with a total capacity of 100MW by the end of this year, namely the Dafu power station in Tainan (22MW), Fangdeng (9.82MW), Zhongfang (9.82MW) and Renhua (9.82MW) stations in Penghu and Riyun station in Yuguang Island (43MW). The company is expected to enter the peak period of electricity–fishery symbiosis as large construction projects of ground-mounted systems will be launched in Tainan, Chiayi and Changhua.
General manager Shih-chang Chou said that in addition to Taipower’s 500-billion investment in the 10-Year Grid Reinforcement Program in response to renewable energy intermittency, HDRE has formed an ad hoc group to develop the TITAN smart green energy system capable of analyzing electricity generation and consumption data based on AI algorithms. The system can also be combined with self-developed energy storage systems to facilitate effective energy management. The system will be able to more effectively dispatch power and demand as per load curves.
According to Chou, revenue from the EPC management business will account for approx. 95% of total revenue this year, compared to 5–7% from other segments. Considering the green energy policy announced by the Taiwanese government, HDRE predicts the solar farm market to thrive in the coming years. As HDRE plans to expand relevant development projects, its major source of revenue will continue to be power plant construction by 2025.
In 2022, HDRE generated NTD 5.059 billion (approx. $168 million) in revenue with a record-high 88% year-over-year growth rate. Benefiting from share dilution caused by a capital increase last year, the earnings per share (EPS) in 1Q22–3Q22 was NTD 2.7—up 3,275% from the year before and nearly equivalent to the annual EPS in 2021—demonstrating the company’s remarkable performance.
(Credit: TechNews)