Stewards of Compassion: Growing a Business Through Compassion (Sponsored Content)

0:02Hello. Since you're a subscriber to this Bloomberg Podcast, we thought you'd be interested in a sponsored podcast called Stewards of Compassion. Produced by Begrim and Bloomberg Media Studios, it explores how trust, partnerships, and long-term thinking are shaping renewable energy growth around the world. We hope you enjoy this episode.

0:29Begrim is Thailand's oldest established company. In 2028, it will mark 150 years. In this episode of Stewards of Compassion, we follow Begrim's expansion in renewable energy from Thailand to South Korea and the United States.

0:52Let's hear from Dr. Harold Link, Chairman of Begrim. He leads the company's long-term direction and speaks here about the wider vision behind its expansion. It doesn't come by Begrim showing up in Korea and go to somebody and say, let's do that together. No, everything has a story behind it. The company's entry into the Korean market actually starts in Thailand. In 2018, Begrim was selected by the Royal Thai Navy as the operator for power plants and a cooling water project at Uta Pau Airport. That opened the door to work with Korean partners on battery technology and led to a relationship that later grew in South Korea.

1:38South Korea is one of Asia's most competitive renewable energy markets, home to some of the world's largest industrial and technology companies. For a Thai company, building a successful renewable energy business there represents an important milestone in its international growth. Now let's hear from Piradeh Patanachan, president of the renewable energy business at Begrim. He oversees renewable energy development outside Thailand and Malaysia. During the pandemic, everything got more difficult to do. I could not come back, so I stayed in South Korea quite long during that year. Despite the challenges, Begrim invested in the Sayamangum Sebit Power solar plant, which has an installed capacity of 99 megawatts.

2:27The investment went through in 2021 and the plant has been in operation since March of 2022. After that success in 2021 and 2022, we got more opportunities from the Korean government and our partners over there. In 2023, we got awarded for our NACWA project. We are very proud to demonstrate the story of our journey in South Korea. South Korea is a very unique market. The 365-megawatt Nagual offshore wind project became Begrim's biggest step forward in South Korea. The United States presented a different challenge. It is one of the world's most mature and competitive renewable energy markets, offering Begrim an opportunity to learn, build partnerships and establish a foothold for future growth.

3:27The same approach shaped Begrim's entry into the United States. Dr. Link says the move into America was part of a wider global ambition. We follow our vision. The world wants to decarbonize. We want to be carbon neutral by 2050. We have to do that with renewable power. That's why we went to America. So they worked with Kunziron Bunrutai. She is in charge of finance and accounting for the whole world. We entered into US market back in 2023 for the small hydro project 30 megawatts in Malaysia. People would question at that time why. It's not about the scale of the investment. It's about who we jointly investing together.

4:16Big Grim got very fortunate way doing business by always having very good and reliable partners. And our key partner in the US is Brookfields. Begrim's investments and expansion tie into a much larger ambition, the company's Greenleap strategy to become a green company reaching a capacity of 10 gigawatts by 2030. In the next five years, we have to be able to make 10 gigawatts in total capacities making these energy solutions for our strategic partners, either co-investors or our shareholders. As Begrim expands across Asia, Europe and the United States, a new generation of leaders is helping drive that growth.

5:11Executives such as Pyradesh are taking the company's renewable energy strategy into new markets while building on the values and vision established over nearly 150 years.

5:26For Dr. Link, that ambition comes back to one guiding idea. Doing business with compassion.