The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) has organised the 7^th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO7) Dissemination to the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Laos, in Vientiane, on May 4^th, 2023. This event is a continuous effort of ACE after publishing the AEO7 with the aim to share insights on the outlook findings to the visited institution and increase the awareness of the lecturers and students on the energy trends.

On this occasion, ACE conducted a dissemination seminar at the National University of Laos that targeted students and lecturers to improve the ownership of the AEO7. This event was participated by Dr Deuansavanh Phommavongsa, Head of the Administration Division and Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, Dr Khanthanou Luangxaysana, Deputy Head of Academic Affairs Faculty of Engineering, and final year engineering students at the National University of Laos.

The event started with the presentation of the Lao PDR Energy Policy and Challenges by Dr Deuansavanh Phommavongsa to give the national overview of the current energy situation and policy. He highlighted the country’s energy policy of the Power Development Plan 2020-2030, incorporating diversifying various electricity generation. He also mentioned several bottlenecks in implementing the plan, such as a lack of coordination in the governance system.

Followed by a presentation by Dr Zulfikar Yurnaidi, Energy Modelling and Policy Planning (MPP) Manager of ACE, who introduced the ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO) and its roles in regional energy cooperation. He emphasised AEO’s objective in complementing the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2016-2025 Phase II: 2021-2025 and supporting the creation of pathways for achieving regional targets. He also briefly mentioned the insights on the methodology and modelling of AEO.

Dr Ambiyah Abdullah, Senior Officer MPP of ACE, presented the AEO7 modelling findings from the demand and supply side. She pointed out that the regional energy demand is foreseen to triple by 2050, and changes in various pathways of the ASEAN energy supply are dominated by fossil fuels. Various key findings of AEO7 were elaborated in detail, such as the import dependency, evolving electricity generation system, the significance of interconnection grid, cost characteristics, and intersectoral nexus such as emissions and biofuel land use.

Apart from that, Dr Ambiyah also explained that AEO7 contains an analysis of the potential for green job creation, which is projected to provide up to 5.5 million new jobs by 2050.

The event was followed by several questions from the audience that led to a discussion about the energy sector in Lao PDR and its importance to ASEAN, calling the country “The future battery for ASEAN.” This dissemination event was concluded with an exchange of views on potential follow-up research and discussed the feedback for the upcoming 8th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO8). Amira Bilqis, Associate Officer MPP of ACE, also took the opportunity to invite the students for the internship opportunity at ACE.

Hopefully, this dissemination can bring future collaboration in research and other forms with NUOL considering that the AEO8 will be launched under the Lao PDR’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2024.