Singapore-based Vena Energy, the renewable energy arm of Vena Group, has reached financial close on its 300-megawatt ( peak ) Opus Solar Energy Project in Ilocos Norte, making it the first fully internationally financed renewable energy venture in the Philippines.

Seven international financial institutions participated in the project financing, including BNP Paribas ( Singapore ), Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank ( Singapore ), DBS Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo SPA ( Hong Kong ), MUFG Bank ( Singapore ), Standard Chartered Bank ( Singapore ), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.  

Vena Energy says the financing agreement signalled a growing confidence in the Philippines’ energy sector and the development of the group’s renewables platform.

The Opus project forms part of the Philippines’ Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auction Programme 2, which targets 3.4 gigawatts of additional capacity by 2026. Once operational, Opus is expected to power around 445,000 households and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 349,000 tonnes annually.

The environmental impact, equivalent to planting nearly 5.8 million trees or removing 76,000 cars from circulation, places this solar facility in line with broader decarbonization goals across the Asia-Pacific.

“This bespoke financing reflects the confidence of global banking institutions in the quality of our strategy, our team, and our projects,” says Simone Grasso, Vena Group’s chief investment officer. 

“As the first US dollar-denominated project financing in the Philippines’ renewable energy sector funded entirely by international banks, this transaction underscores Vena Group’s leadership to mobilize cross-border capital at scale to accelerate the country’s clean energy transition.”

Together with being a consequential renewable energy deployment, the project also represents a template for financing models that can support large-scale infrastructure developments in Asia using purely international capital.