BALI (Aug 24): In a push for further regional energy security and renewable resource sharing, Malaysia will connect its power grid with Brunei under the Asean Power Grid (APG) scheme, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR).
EMR secretary general Dadan Kusdiana said this forms part of a key agenda of the 41st Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM), which is the multilateral power grid interconnection of the Asean sub-region comprising Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“There is already [grid] interconnectivity between Indonesia and Malaysia. Malaysia will now connect its grid with Brunei, while Indonesia is looking to connect [its grid] with the Philippines through North Sulawesi,” he said during a press conference after the joint-opening ceremony of the 41st AMEM and its associated meetings, held in conjunction with the Asean Energy Business Forum (AEBF) 2023.
Dadan said the grid link-up project is already in the works, and noted that the planned interconnection’s basis is to enable cross-border trading of each respective nation’s renewable energy (RE) resources — in particular, East Malaysia’s hydropower and the Philippines’ geothermal energy.
Beyond this, Dadan did not disclose further details on the project but noted that the four nations will be releasing a joint statement once the agenda is discussed in the AMEM.
Dadan underlined that “interconnection” — not just of power grids but also of gas pipelines — is the main theme of 2023’s AMEM, as proposed by Indonesia — the chair of this year’s iteration.
“This is in response to the global challenge of moving towards a more resilient energy system. Interconnective energy infrastructure in the region is a key strategy for strengthening Asean’s energy security and also the transition to RE through efficient resource sharing.
“Connectivity is the most concrete cooperation in the region because we can see how we work together. There are two such existing projects that have been in operation — the APG and Asean gas pipeline — for the past 20 to 25 years,” he said.
He also noted that Indonesia’s EMR is proposing to go beyond traditional connectivity and is looking to form other multilateral agreements, such as joint development of biofuels.
Under the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC), the region has committed to a target of RE comprising 23% of its Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES), as well as 35% of its installed power capacity by 2025.
According to the Asean Centre of Energy (ACE), the Asean Interconnection Master Plan Study (AIMS) III projected that US$47.7 billion of investment is required for the APG by 2025, to unlock greater utilisation of variable RE (such as solar and wind power) to achieve the Asean RE target.