SINGAPORE – The Asean power grid would have many other benefits for countries in the region other than providing green electricity, including the creation of new jobs, reduced air pollution, and significant investments generated for the energy sector.
Speaking on the third day of the Singapore International Energy Week, Dr Daniel Gaspar, deputy director of Net Zero World Initiative, backed by the US Department of Energy, presented the findings of the US-Singapore feasibility study on regional energy connectivity. It concluded that regional interconnection would have significant socio-economic benefits for the region.
These would include investments of US$2 billion (S$2.6 billion) annually for research and development, and US$1.4 trillion cumulatively to build electricity generation capacity.
By being part of an interconnected regional grid, each country’s gross domestic product could also increase by about 0.8 per cent to 4.6 per cent, Dr Gaspar noted.
The US-Singapore regional connectivity study, which started in April 2023, examined the renewable energy landscape and existing grid infrastructure of Asean countries, along with the socio-economic impact of having regional connectivity.
The Net Zero World Initiative, launched in 2021 is a new partnership between the US, and countries looking to implement their climate ambition pledges and to transition to a net zero energy system.
The Asean power grid has been decades in the making, but only really made progress with the launch of the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore electricity import pilot in 2022, which is a pathfinder project for the Asean grid.
Under this project, 100 megawatts of hydropower is being being transmitted from Laos to Singapore, via Malaysia and Thailand. This was later extended to include another 100MW from Malaysia’s electricity grid in October 2024, after progress on the second phase had stalled. The electricity, however, would include a mix of generation sources, including coal and natural gas.
Having countries trade electricity freely through a regional grid would allow them to meet rising electricity demand while being assured of energy security. Such a grid would hedge against the intermittencies of renewables, by distributing energy more efficiently.
Around 99 per cent of the region’s population would benefit from air pollution being reduced by around half, leading to 15,000 fewer pollution-induced deaths annually, he noted.
The leading cause of air pollution in the region arises from the use of coal-fired power plants, which are carbon-intensive, and power the lion’s share of many South-east Asia countries, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Having greater regional interconnectivity can also create a signifcant number of jobs – from at least 2,000 to 9,000 jobs annually for the region, the study found. These, among others, would be in the renewables manufacturing sector, which includes cables and other related equipment.
“These require a variety of qualifications, and would generate high quality jobs at all education levels in the region,” said Dr Gaspar.
The study also looked at the estimated upfront investment costs of laying subsea cables that would connect the region, allowing for “significant amounts of renewable energy” to be transmitted between countries.
Building long subsea cables – which can cost several billion dollars – can become “affordable” when shared among various countries in the region, he added.