In celebration of 30 years of ASEAN and India cooperation, the first ASEAN-India High-Level Conference on Renewable Energy was conducted online 7-8 February 2022. This high-level conference consisted of a brief overview of five technical sessions: Renewable Energy Transition in India, Integration of Grid among ASEAN Countries, Distributed RE Innovation & Applications, and Efficient RE Power Project Designing & Capacity Building.

Through his welcoming address, Shri Indu Shekar Chaturvedi, Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, explained that ASEAN and India have strengths leveraged through cooperation. Echoing on that, in the particularparticular address by H.E. Tun Lean, Secretary of State, Ministry of Mines and Energy, Cambodia, as the Chair of ASEAN in 2022, he highlighted that regional cooperation is crucial, such that having a unified goal and taking cooperative actions can accelerate clean energy usage towards a more sustainable future. He also shared that the new PDP is committed to halting the construction of new coal power plants than what was already agreed to in 2019 and promoting low carbon energy sources. Similarly, H.E. Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, mentioned that green hydrogen is the key to the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors. He noted that India has benefitted dramatically from training and capacity building from institutions and is willing to extend this to partners from ASEAN.

Indonesia is working vigorously on the RE transition, where Secretary-General, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ego Syahrial, mentioned an integrated RE solution to resolve the intermittent nature of RE through enhancing grid and storage. Indonesia is also preparing policies and regulations for the deployment of rooftop solar, handling net metering and incentives to potential owners, and improving the investment climate in RE through ease of tax and regulations. H.E. Dr Daovong Phonekeo, Minister of energy and Mines, Lao PDR, spotlighted Lao PDR’s current energy progress, with 89 clean power projects being developed, in which 77 is hydropower, eight solar power, eight biomass, and the total installed capacity is 9,100 MW. In addition, electric vehicles remain the priority, aiming for 1% usage in 2025 and 30% by 2030. Meanwhile, Thailand has installed 2,700 MW of hydro floating solar. It is looking to solar-powered water pumping to promote cost-effective RE and sustainable energy in Thailand, as stated by H.E. Mr Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Minister of Energy, Thailand.

Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy of India, H.E. Shri Raj Kumar Singh; along with H.E. Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mat Suny bin Haji Md Hussein, Ministry of Energy, Brunei Darussalam; H.E. Mr U Aung Than Oo, Union Minister for Electricity and Energy of Myanmar; and H.E. Mr Alfonso G. Cusi, Secretary of the Department of Energy of Philippines, also highlighted their efforts to accelerating the energy transition, and showcased their commitments in achieving a higher integration of renewables in their energy share.

Read the full report here.

Materials of the conference can be downloaded here.