Asia-Pacific renewable investment outpaces procurement efficiency

Developers cite grid, contracting, and documentation hurdles.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region attracted more renewable energy investment in 2025, but developers reported the world's least efficient procurement processes as grid constraints, fragmented tenders, and contract risks continued to slow project delivery.

Renewable energy investment depends on grid conditions and market design as much as capital spending, Edward Zhao, global senior vice-president and Singapore general manager at Univers Pte. Ltd., told Asian Power. “It depends on more than just how much money you put into capital expenditure.”

The findings came from the 2026 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Outlook, published on 31 March by Ansarada Pty Ltd. in partnership with Infralogic. The survey covered 150 senior executives across APAC, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Americas.

Only 24% of respondents in the region described their most recent procurement process as very efficient, the lowest share globally.

At the same time, the region attracted a record $68.6b in renewable energy infrastructure investment in 2025, up 17% from a year earlier, whilst 62% of respondents expected strong investment growth, the highest of any region.

Zhao said renewable energy projects depend on more than funding because developers must also consider electricity market rules, transmission capacity, and grid reliability.

“It is an interrelated topic that is part of the power system,” he said via Zoom. “You need to consider market regulation, market mechanisms, grid resilience, flexibility, and affordability.”

Only 22% of respondents in the APAC said risks were allocated effectively in their most recent tender, the lowest regional result in the survey.

Zhao said bigger projects become harder to deliver because engineering, operations, and electricity market risks increase together. “The bigger the project becomes, the more impact it brings to the entire power system,” he said.

Rohit Anand, managing director and head of Asia infrastructure and climate direct investments at British International Investment Plc (BII), said fragmented procurement across Southeast Asia remains a major barrier.

“You need to have a large volume of tenders to allow the industry to scale, and very fragmented procurement makes it difficult,” he said in a separate Zoom call.

Anand said some power purchase agreements also discourage investment because they allow government buyers to suspend electricity purchases after projects have been financed and built.

“If you are investing a large sum of money assuming that electricity will be bought for 20 years, the buyer of electricity cannot have a unilateral right to just decide one day to stop buying that power," he said.

The Ansarada report found that 46% of respondents in APAC identified supply chain disruption as their biggest delivery risk, whilst 54% cited documentation as a key procurement challenge, the highest share of any region.

Organisations in the region also used an average of 3.1 procurement platforms, suggesting many processes remain spread across multiple systems.

Anand said stronger electricity interconnections across Southeast Asia would let countries combine hydroelectric, solar, and wind resources into a more reliable electricity supply.

Zhao said developers should incorporate digital systems during construction rather than after projects begin operating. “It is no longer viable to build first and digitalise later,” he said.

Although 86% of respondents globally said they were willing to adopt technology to improve procurement, implementation has lagged, according to the report.

BII recently committed $150m to Northstar Renewables alongside Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to develop wind, solar, and battery projects in India through its British Climate Partners programme.

Anand said institutional capital continues to favour markets with stable regulations.

“Where there is a positive regulatory environment, that allows us to both invest ourselves as well as take other people along with us into those markets,” he added.