Moving together towards Sustainable Energy in ASEAN

Project description

Title: ASEAN-German Energy Programme 
Commissioned by: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: ASEAN / Regional Cooperation
Lead executing agency: ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE)
Overall term: 2016 to 2019

Context

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region is an economic zone of around 630 million people with regional gross domestic product of 2.4 trillion US-dollars (2015) growing on an average of 5.3 per cent per year in the period 2007 to 2015. The demand for energy is immense due to the economic growth in the region driven by transport and industry sectors. However, energy demand and supply in individual ASEAN Member States (AMS) vary depending on available resources, as well as political and regulatory frameworks. 

According to the 5th ASEAN Energy Outlook, a publication issued by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) in 2017 that shows future energy landscapes in ASEAN based on energy policies and targets of the ten member-states, total energy consumption in commercial and industrial sectors in the region driven by increasing per capita income is expected to grow 4.1 per cent per year, followed by an annual increase of 3.7 per cent from the agricultural sector until 2040. 

According to ACE, energy consumption/demand varies between the member states such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, which altogether account for around 70 per cent of energy used by AMS. The specific energy consumption in these member states are about ten times higher than in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar combined. 

A regional guiding document; ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2016-2025 envisages target of 23 per cent of renewable energy share in total primary energy supply by 2025. As for energy efficiency and conservation, the ASEAN member states are committed to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in energy intensity by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2025 based on 2005 levels. To achieve these targets, ASEAN needs to harmonise energy efficiency standards and labelling requirements, align building codes more strongly with energy efficiency criteria, and strengthen research and development on the use of renewable energy. 

ASEAN needs to boost awareness and promotion of green building development; especially targeting the private sector. Policy mapping and a reference document on energy efficiency for buildings and industry sectors are also required.

Objective

The deployment of renewable energy and efficiency in ASEAN is gradually improving with stronger regional cooperation among the member states. 

Approach

  • Providing concrete and regionally coordinated action strategies to strengthen the development of renewable energy and efficiency carried out by AMS.
  • Improving regional technical exchange to establish robust cooperation and learning structure among AMS. 
  • Strengthening the capacity of ACE to achieve its vision as catalyst for the economic growth and integration in ASEAN, as the ASEAN energy think tank to assist AMS and as the data centre and knowledge hub to provide knowledge repository for the member states. 

Results

  • With the aim to strengthen the learnings and exchanges among experts and policy makers of AMS, capacity empowerment in renewable energy and energy efficiency topics are conducted jointly with ACE. The topics delivered are, among others, sustainable financing, training of trainers for renewable energy training institution, levelised cost of electricity, energy efficiency, energy planning and smart grids.
  • In order to provide regional references for AMS on renewable energy, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supports ACE in developing several regional publications on various renewable energy topics. The publications are well received by the member states. The publications are the 5th ASEAN Energy Outlook, a recommendation paper on permit procedures on renewable energy (RE) development in the ASEAN region, a study on regional RE cooperation in ASEAN and a recommendation paper on technical requirements for RE generation connected to the distribution grids, among others, in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.  
  • In order to respond to the need of wide socialisation amongst stakeholders and the public to engage them to take action, GIZ supports ACE in building an information platform to give access to renewable energy knowledge in Southeast Asia to the stakeholders and the public. The information platform is maintained and hosted by ACE. Since its first launch in 2017, the portal has already become a reference site to over 1,000 monthly visitors across Southeast Asia. 

Additional information