How is ASEAN playing a role in accelerating regional energy transition? SIEW Thinktank Roundtable B explored various initiatives by leading institutes and industry players in ASEAN, and how they are stepping up efforts to accelerate energy transition and strengthen energy resilience through greater innovation and cooperation. Lucas Tay reports
The SIEW Thinktank Roundtable B brought together industry thought leaders in a lively discussion concerning the key energy innovations and strategies to accelerate energy transition in the ASEAN region. The discussion commenced with a short introduction by Gabriella Ienanto, Associate Officer of Power, Fossil Fuel, Alternative Energy and Storage (PFS) Department, ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), on how ASEAN can play a role in using innovative solutions to meet the challenges in energy transition regionally.
Beni Suryadi, Manager, ACE, said in his opening remarks that ACE will continue to provide support to all 10 ASEAN member countries in the energy transition.
Jonathan Goh, Director, External Relations, Energy Market Authority of Singapore, highlighted that Singapore will be focusing on innovative technology to optimise the four supply switches in the country’s energy transition.
While natural gas continues to be the main fuel source for power generation, Singapore will maximise its solar deployment through both conventional rooftop systems as well as novel solar applications (such as floating solar farms, building-integrated PVs, solar on offshore landfills), given the country’s limited land size.
To manage intermittency issues from solar, Singapore is exploring innovative solutions such as floating energy storage systems. The country also plans to leverage low carbon technology such as hydrogen and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) to support the power and industry sectors’ decarbonisation efforts. Initiatives include testing hydrogen enriched natural gas (HENG) as a fuel for existing power plants and trialling imports of low carbon hydrogen.
Strengthening regional cooperation to mitigate climate change
Valentin Musangwa, Second Secretary, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta, shared his views that the post-pandemic world represented a good opportunity for ASEAN to focus on clean energy transition.
He added that the Norwegian government plans to establish a new investment fund that aims to mobilise investment in renewable energy, primarily from the private sector—and delivering clean energy will continue to be a key priority in their renewed cooperation with ASEAN.
Showcasing the key takeaways from ACE’s report on Innovation in the Energy Transition, Monika Merdekawati, Technical Officer of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REE), ACE, highlighted the increased emission reduction commitments made by various ASEAN member countries—which will serve to strengthen regional cooperation to mitigate climate change and maintain energy security and resilience.
Suwanto, Technical Officer of Power, Fossil Fuel, Alternative Energy and Storage (PFS), ACE, touched on the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) to achieve energy security, accessibility, affordability and sustainability.
Boost to ASEAN’s green innovation
The speakers and panellists went on to explore how countries in Southeast Asia can address the challenge of balancing the reliance on conventional fuels with aspiration towards a low carbon society.
Eddie Tan, Sembcorp Vice President on Integrated Solutions for Singapore and Southeast Asia, noted that natural gas will remain a very important energy source for Singapore in the future. While currently the largest gas importer in Singapore, Sembcorp has explored new paths into renewables and deployed one of the world’s largest floating solar power farms at Tengeh Reservoir, Singapore. For Sembcorp, the hydrogen supply chain provides another viable low carbon alternative.
Dr Andrea Lovato, Vice President of Renewables and Technology from ACWA Power echoed the view about hydrogen’s growing potential and that renewable energy is now making sense economically. Tariffs for green hydrogen is projected to touch approximately $50/MWh in 2030 and become at parity with oil at average price, and then at $25/MWh in 2035, at parity with gas at average price.
Jennifer Tay, Partner and Infrastructure Leader, PwC Singapore, shared that the company will be launching an ESG Centre of Excellence that will bring together a group of experts to assist with the energy transition. She further highlighted that PwC will be able to help mitigate risk, as well as provide relevant knowledge and experience in this energy transition. As a global network, PwC is working towards a net-zero target by 2030 and will “continue to mitigate the impact we have today by offsetting our emission through high quality carbon credit".
Sharing the perspective from Indonesia, Dr Ir Retno Gumilang Dewi, Head of Center for Research on Energy Policy, Bandung Institute of Technology, sees opportunities for the country to transform its energy system and sharply reduce the carbon intensity in all sectors of the economy.
Sirpa Jarvenpaa, Director, Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP), stressed on the need to work through four areas of strategic outcomes for the energy transition:
- Policy alignment with the climate commitment
- De-risking of finance for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects
- Expanding smart grids to remove the physical barrier from energy transition
- Building knowledge and awareness on energy transition
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