Frank Phuan's father began selling solar panels in Singapore in 1979. Phuan studied materials engineering at Nanyang Technological University and joined the family firm in 2001.
Inside that firm he argued that the company should sell the energy panels produce, not the panels. His father replied that Singapore had little space and few incentives. Phuan kept the idea.
In 2011 he and fellow NTU graduate Lawrence Wu founded Sunseap Leasing. Without a licence to sell energy, the company leased equipment and billed by monthly usage. Funding came mainly from bank loans, and payback periods were long.
In February 2022 EDP Renewables acquired 91% of Sunseap in a deal worth S$1.1 billion. Phuan stayed on as CEO. By then Sunseap had equipped more than 3,000 buildings in Singapore.