UK development bank joins Southeast Asia renewables JV

SINGAPORE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution, has formed a renewable energy joint venture focused on Southeast Asia, according to a statement released with its partners on Wednesday.

BII's partners in the Sustainable Asia Renewable Assets company (SARA) are Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO and Swiss-based infrastructure investment manager SUSI Partners.

BII and FMO are investing $70 million and $50 million, respectively, in the company, while SUSI will contribute the Dam Nai wind farm in Vietnam it acquired in October last year as a cornerstone asset, the three said in the statement.

SARA aims to build a 500 megawatt portfolio of greenfield renewable energy projects across Southeast Asia, a region that has relied mainly on fossil fuels to meet increasing energy demand driven by population expansion and its position as a growing global manufacturing and industry hub.

The International Energy Agency projects that the region will account for more than a quarter of global energy demand growth until 2035.