$6 billion Johor renewable energy corridor moves toward financing with four parties
Key Facts
DBS, Maybank, the International Finance Corporation and Ditrolic Energy exchanged a framework memorandum to work on the bankability and financing readiness of the South Johor Renewable Energy Corridor during the 19th Singapore International Energy Week in 2026. The project has a stated value of $6 billion and combines solar power generation with battery storage in Malaysia’s Johor state. The memorandum does not mean financing has closed or that DBS has lent to the project; it starts joint work to identify what is needed to make the project bankable. The announcement comes as the project moves toward contracting, licensing, permits and a final investment decision. Ditrolic Energy’s chief executive said capacity-reservation interest covers nearly 90% of the project’s green energy, adding that the current focus is on facilitating financial close.
The working group is identifying bankability requirements across interconnected areas, including regulatory pathways, grid interconnection, power purchase agreements and risk allocation, as well as environmental and social standards and financing structure. These issues have practical importance for the project because the electricity generated in Johor is intended for delivery to Singapore, making completion of export, interconnection and purchase arrangements part of the path toward investment. According to the developer, capacity-reservation interest is an indicator of potential demand for the corridor’s green energy, but it does not change the project’s financing or licensing status. The company’s chief executive described the interest as “nearly 90%” of the green energy and said the company’s priority now is a smooth path to financial close. The developer has not announced that financial close has been achieved.
The project is jointly developed by Ditrolic Energy and Permodalan Darul Ta’zim, the strategic investment arm of the Johor state government. On 24 November 2025, the International Finance Corporation, Permodalan Darul Ta’zim and Ditrolic Energy signed a cooperation agreement to develop the South Johor corridor, as part of efforts to support cross-border electricity trade. International Finance Corporation disclosures projected that the initial phase would include up to 4 gigawatts peak of solar capacity and 5.12 gigawatt-hours of storage on a 10,000-acre site. These figures give an indication of the scale of the first phase, while the 2026 memorandum focuses on preparing the project for financing and organizing its requirements. The parties hope the bankability framework will serve as a reference for cross-border projects within the ASEAN Power Grid.
The project received a regulatory boost in August 2026, when Southern Solar Alliance, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ditrolic Energy, received conditional approval from Singapore’s Energy Market Authority to import up to 600 megawatts of alternating-current renewable electricity from Johor. The authority says the company is targeting commercial operations around 2029, with approvals, power purchase agreements and financing still among the requirements to be completed. This places the approval at a preliminary stage, rather than marking the start of commercial supply. The authority said low-carbon electricity imports are part of Singapore’s strategy to decarbonize its power sector, which accounts for 40% of the country’s carbon emissions. The project is one proposed route for cross-border electricity flows, while its progress depends on completing regulatory, financing and contracting steps.
The bankability work comes amid broader obstacles facing plans to import clean electricity into Singapore. Reuters reported in October 2026, citing a Wood Mackenzie report, that Singapore aims to import 6 gigawatts of low-carbon electricity by 2035 and has approved 9.25 gigawatts of import capacity across 6 corridors, but none of the projects had reached financial close or begun construction at that time. The report identified export permit systems, project bankability and financing for cross-border transmission lines as key obstacles. The Johor memorandum’s focus on financing structure, interconnection and contracting reflects some of these implementation challenges. In October 2025, ASEAN, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank launched an initiative to finance the ASEAN Power Grid, supporting regional electricity grid interconnection and energy cooperation through 2045.
The corridor’s next steps are to complete contracting, licensing and permits, then reach a final investment decision, while the developer has not announced a completed financial close. This follows Singapore’s conditional approval in August to import up to 600 megawatts and the developer’s estimate that capacity-reservation interest is close to 90% of the green energy. In Malaysia, Bank Negara scheduled a Monetary Policy Committee meeting for 5 November 2026, and the published official interest rate was 2.75% on 3 September 2026. DBS shares, listed under the ticker DBSDY, closed at $227.84 on 30 October 2026. The data provided do not include a price comparison or trading range for that day.