Taipei-based solar farm developer HD Renewable Energy (HDRE), backed by Taiwanese billionaire brothers Daniel and Richard Tsai’s Fubon Financial, closed down 5.3% on its first day of trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main board.

HDRE, which now has a market capitalization of NT$28.9 billion ($907.2 million), was previously listed on the Taiwan Innovation Board.

For fiscal year 2023, HDRE reported revenue of NT$5.8 billion, up 15.4% from the previous year, and profits increased 17.3% to NT$991.2 million. In the first half of the year, HDRE posted revenue of NT$2.2 billion, a 5.4% increase from the same period last year, while profits declined 4.6% to NT$251.4 million.

Demand for green energy, such as from solar panels, has been rising as Taiwanese suppliers of tech giants like Apple and Google try to meet their clients’ carbon neutrality goals. To meet that commitment, renewable energy companies like HDRE will need to dramatically ramp up their capacity in the coming decades.

HDRE is backed by Fubon Financial’s venture capital arm, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, with a 5.8% stake in the company. Other investors of HDRE include Shihlin Electric and Taiwan Life Insurance, a subsidiary of billionaire Jeffrey Koo Jr.’s CTBC Financial Holding.

In June, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital invested NT$11 billion in its renewable arm, Fubon Green Power, which also received investments from HDRE and Fubon’s Taiwan Mobile. In the same month, Fubon subsidiaries signed a contract with Star Power, a unit of HDRE, for the procurement of a total of 4.4 million kWh of green electricity. Cathay Life Insurance, controlled by the billionaire Tsai Hong-tu & Cheng-ta & family, also sought green energy from HDRE.

HDRE says it’s aiming to become a leading private power company on the self-ruled island, aside from the state-owned Taiwan Power Company. It builds solar power farms, develops charging and storage systems, as well as sell renewable energy. Besides Taiwan, HDRE also has presence in Japan, Australia and the Philippines.

While companies use HDRE’s green energy to power their AI programs, HDRE itself also utilizes the hot technology to manage its electricity supply and pricing. Last year, it acquired Taipei-based Beseye for NT$100 million to help develop its TITAN smart energy system that manages the production and consumption of green energy.

“The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources means that electricity generation may not always align with the demand for electricity,” Chou Shih-chang, cofounder and general manager of HDRE, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters last year. “Therefore, the development of AI algorithms is necessary to predict the generation and usage.”

Besides generating and building energy storage systems, HDRE also sells electricity. “We aim to provide end-to-end services from power generation and energy storage to charging infrastructure, and become the ‘Uber’ of the renewable energy industry,” Chou said.

Chou believes that managing electrical resources will become a new norm of the sharing economy as more markets progress toward a net-zero reality. “We aim to provide end-to-end services from power generation and energy storage to charging infrastructure, and become the ‘Uber’ of the renewable energy industry,” he said.

Before starting HDRE in 2016, Chou and his cofounder Hsieh Yuan-i were running a totally different business. They sold souvenirs at a Buddhism museum in southern Taiwan. Although they initially turned a profit, the venture ultimately closed after losses piled up.

Despite the failure of their first business, they were eager to start a new venture. Later, Chou and Hsieh saw the potential for the green energy sector in Asia, so they pooled money from family and friends to begin investing in building solar power plants across the region. The pair had traveled in Japan, South Korea, mainland China, Vietnam and the Philippines to negotiate for potential business.

Their most successful investments were in the Japanese cities of Kansai and Tokyo. Then, they brought their experience and knowhow back to their home, when they spotted the opportunity created by key policy changes that saw Taiwan adopt a target to boost sustainable energy and reduce carbon emissions.

HDRE’s plants now cover a total of 1,500 hectares with a development volume of more than 1.5GW. “Everyone in the world is talking about carbon indicators. Without green energy, they do not have the trading pass,” Chou said. “Either you use green energy or you pay a big amount of carbon tax.”

“We hope to develop a software platform, establish a strong brand presence, and expand our reach by exploring opportunities in other countries,” Chou added.