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The case for solar remains strong in Southeast Asia since power demand is still growing rapidly in many of its markets, but traversing the unique regulations and policies of each country and knowing which PV segment is most suitable remains challenging. Here are some of PV Tech’s key takeaways from last week’s Solar and Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia (SORSEA) 2017 conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

Vietnamese renewable energy firm SolarBK has received a licence from the People's Committee of Da Nang City, Vietnam, for a 4.4MW solar PV project, which it claimed will be the first such plant set to be entirely implemented by Vietnamese engineers.

US-based investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and co-investors have acquired Singapore-headquartered Equis Energy, the largest renewable energy IPP in the Asia Pacific region, for US$5 billion along with assumed liabilities of US$1.3 billion.

With one month to go before the Solar and Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia conference in Bangkok, PV Tech caught up with Franck Constant, president of renewables and storage investment platform Constant Energy, to discuss the current state of solar in the largest Southeast Asian markets.

Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte today inaugurated the Philippines first solar module manufacturing facility with an expanded capacity of 800MW at Santo Tomas, Batangas, owned by renewable energy firm Solar Philippines.

A nation made up of thousands of small islands should be a blessing to any off-grid renewable energy firm, but poor access to upfront financing makes Indonesia a tougher proposition than one would expect. To discuss the market, PV Tech caught up with Verania Andria, associate director, community renewable energy, Millennium Challenge Account Indonesia, which focuses on financing off-grid renewables in Indonesia with grant funding.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invested THB1,968 million (US$57.7 million) in Thai power firm B. Grimm Power Public Company (B. Grimm) to develop renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia.

An open fund for solar energy and energy storage in various emerging markets has been launched by Franck Constant, the co-founder of Sonnedix Group and director of Sithe Pacific, PV Tech can reveal.

Solar PV manufacturers have been flooding into Malaysia, but its domestic solar deployment remains relatively modest. PV Tech caught up with Catherine Ridu, chief executive officer of the Malaysia Sustainable Development Authority (SEDA), to discuss the newly-launched net metering programme and what other policies could encourage solar deployment, as well as how to leverage the manufacturing boom for domestic solar gains.