The hidden hurdles behind building South-east Asia’s $129b supergrid
Bloomberg via The Straits Times
“An interconnected grid could boost the gross domestic product of every South-east Asian country by between 0.8 percentage points and 4.6 percentage points, according to a US-funded study.”
“And that is before considering the outlay, an investment that would require at least US$100 billion (S$129 billion) by 2045, according to the Asian Development Bank, roughly a quarter of Malaysia’s GDP.”
“Electricity consumption is set to grow 4 per cent annually through 2035, but annual investment in grid infrastructure needs to more than double to around US$22 billion just to keep pace, according to the International Energy Agency. Without interconnected networks, a much-needed rapid scale-up of renewables will stall.”
“While Asean has identified 18 priority grid connection projects that it aims to complete by 2045 – formally known as the Asean Power Grid – more than half of these supergrid projects are still in early planning stages, with timelines ranging from two years to indefinite.”