Bankable pathways to scale Asean power integration

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Asean’s decarbonisation challenge is both urgent and structural. Electricity demand is set to more than double by 2050, yet fossil fuels still dominate the generation mix and progress in renewable deployment has not translated into an economy-wide emissions decline.

The missing link is integration: stronger grids, deeper electrification, and cross-border trade that can move clean power from where it is abundant to where it is needed. The Asean Power Grid has long embodied this ambition. However, advancement has been uneven, shaped by wide differences in geography, market design and institutional capacity.

Rather than seeking a single grand blueprint, the region’s next phase of cooperation will depend on pragmatic, bankable projects that build confidence step by step, allowing bottom-up success to drive broader policy alignment and, ultimately, a more interconnected Southeast Asian power system.

The Monsoon Wind Power Project, the first utility-scale cross-border wind export project in Asia — demonstrates that regional renewable energy integration in Southeast Asia is feasible even without a formal regional framework. Delivering 600 MW of wind power from Laos to Vietnam via a dedicated 500 kV transmission line, the project shows how bottom-up innovation, sustained stakeholder engagement, and robust financial structuring can overcome political, regulatory, and technical barriers.

Source: Wikipedia