In Southeast Asia, the shift towards sustainable energy is more than a goal—it’s a necessity. Amid this backdrop, power interconnectivity emerges as a cornerstone, not just facilitating but accelerating the region’s Energy Transition. And in particular, the ASEAN Power Grid (APG) initiative stands at the forefront of this movement, a manifestation of the collective resolve of the ASEAN community (governments, the private sector and the people) to embrace a greener future for the region.

Why Interconnectivity?

Interconnectivity means more than just physical wires crossing borders. It represents the integration of energy and economic policies, and environmental goals across Southeast Asia. By enabling the sharing of renewable energy resources among nations, the APG will make the energy sector more resilient, efficient, and sustainable.

The logic is straightforward yet powerful: renewable energy, unlike fossil fuels, is not uniformly available. The sun shines brighter in some areas, the wind blows stronger in others. Interconnectivity allows regions blessed with abundant renewable resources to share their surplus, ensuring a steadier, more reliable energy supply across the grid. This concept is the embedded spirit of enhancing regional interconnectivity under APG, both to help achieving ASEAN aspirational RE target but also at the same time as nation strategy to help them achieve theirs by higher shared utilization of RE.

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This op-ed was published in the Southeast Asia Information Platform for the Energy transition (SIPET). The original article can be found here.