POWER PODCAST EP 25 with Berde Renewables co-founders Patrick Zhu and Morris Zhou

No, of course, I trust him, right? That's the basis.

But also at the same time, you know, I buy into the idea.

Maurice, at the time, what were you doing? He was an accountant in a...

Yeah, so when I graduated from uni, I didn't actually apply for a day job.

So the family at the time, there was a family business, right? So that was basically in industrial products.

um and uh you know when i sort of finished my tertiary education uh you know i didn't really i wasn't really in the mindset of actually looking for a job where you know friends of mine said you know patrick working for an accounting firm or someone else working for a advisory firm you know one of the big fours so at the time you know dad was saying look rather than you know not finding a job and wasting, why don't you come and help out in the family business, right? So I was actually sort of involved in the family business probably for a year and a half to two years.

So it was fun, it was fun, but obviously it wasn't a career as per se.

So helped out with the family for close to two years and then came across this renewable business.

The Philippines has some of the highest electricity rates in Asia, although that's debatable for some.

Some are denying that.

But for a business owner listening right now, how much of their operating cost is going to power? And why is that number so high for you? If that number is so high, why is it?

I think it's undeniable that Philippines is the second highest country in terms of electricity cost right after Singapore.

So the facts are there.

um so um and i think uh uh one of the reasons why i think you're asking the reason why it's so high is because um this country uh almost rely on more than 95 percent you know energy is more important right so whether that's you know coal right imported from indonesia whether it's oil and gas, you know, you know, from, you know, West Asia or Middle East, LNG gas as well from Australia.

And now we're probably seeing potentially American gas coming into the Philippines market.

So if you look at basically the energy build up for the Philippines, I believe more than 95% is actually important.

So it is highly it is highly fragile to the international energy supply chain right i

think it depends on what kind of industry talking about right if if you're talking about let's say manufacturing industry i believe the electricity plays almost 50 to 60 percent of their overall um for sme um maybe around about 25 20 to 25 percent So still, it plays a huge part of the OPEX cost.

So the government has set ambitious renewable energy targets.

It's 35% by 2030.

Where does the Philippines actually stand today? And what's the gap? Is it achievable?

I think that is definitely achievable.

I think in summary, if you, so we've been in the Philippines since 2015, 2016,

right? So, you know,

it's almost been a decade, even though, you know, Bode has only been around for close to three years.