Jakarta, 8 May 2024: Countries in Southeast Asia are grappling with a complex array of energy challenges as they seek to balance economic growth, energy security, and environmental sustainability. One promising initiative aimed at addressing these challenges is the development of a multilateral power trading system within ASEAN, known as the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), which ERIA believed would be one of the key solutions, said Toru Furuichi, ERIA’s Director General for Research and Policy Design, in his opening remarks of a two-day Validation Workshop on enabling agreement among ASEAN Member States (AMS) for establishing the Multilateral Power Trade (MPT)/APG Institutions.

‘By establishing the APG, ASEAN countries can complement each other's energy resources and electricity demand differences, thereby promoting regional energy trading. This can improve the stability of power supply, achieve regional energy balance, and contribute to the adoption of renewable energy and low-carbon initiatives,’ said Furuichi. ‘APG is an essential initiative for enhancing regional energy cooperation among ASEAN countries, promoting energy security, and advancing the adoption of sustainable energy solutions and ERIA will continue to support ASEAN in its efforts to realise APG.’

ERIA established a discussion platform for relevant ASEAN power sector stakeholders, including policymakers, electricity market regulators, and utilities in AMS, to facilitate the implementation of the APG Generation and Transmission Planning function and the APG Transmission System Operator function to advance the APG, utilising the existing established ASEAN Power Grid (APG) Task Force Members. The objective of this platform is to develop a high-level intergovernmental agreement among AMS to establish these two above institutions/functions. This Validation Workshop was the latest meeting on this platform, aimed at gathering input on the agreement study and roadmap from the AMS.

During the workshop, Dr Nuki Agya Utama, Executive Director of ASEAN Centre for Energy, highlighted a significant bottleneck in the realisation of ASEAN renewable energy power generation: the current grid’s lack of reliability and stability. Consequently, the upgrade and modernisation of the grid, alongside the establishment and advancement of the MPT/APG institutions, must be primary considerations.

Joni Armanen from Nord Pool Consulting and Jonathan Hedgecock from Ricardo Energy & Environment presented recommendations on preconditions and key steps to implement the APG Institutions. They also outlined a roadmap detailing priorities and the chronological finalisation within the ATSO/AGTP development process, keeping future enhancements in mind.

The discussion was further enriched by perspectives from participants, including representatives from the ASEAN Energy Regulatory Network and Heads of the ASEAN Power Utilities/Authorities. Tokyo Electric Power Company Power Grid was also invited to enhance recommendations, particularly in technical aspects of generation and transmission planning for grids, by sharing the Japanese experience of using well-known software for system planning and operation, such as generation planning software and transmission planning software.