Meeting 7

READING PASSAGE: ASEAN’s renewable energy

challenges
The ASEAN Post Team

A row of windmills on Bangui Bay in Ilocos Norte, northern Philippines which supplies electricity
to 40 percent of Ilocos Norte province is the first source of clean energy introduced in the
Philippines. (AFP Photo)

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set an ambitious

target of securing 23 percent of its primary energy from renewable sources by
2025 as energy demand in the region is expected to grow by 50 percent.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), this
objective entails a “two-and-a-half-fold increase in the modern renewable
energy share compared to 2014.”
With the rapidly declining cost of renewable energy generation via such
methods as wind and solar photovoltaic (PV), the Southeast Asian region has
been presented with a golden opportunity to meet its immense electricity
demand in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.
A Southeast Asia Energy Outlook report states that through this, local
manufacturing industries will also be able to grow. For example, Malaysia is
already the world’s third-largest producer of photovoltaic cells, while investment
in Thailand’s solar manufacturing industry is increasing PV output for global
markets. By deploying more renewable energy in the region, the economy of
these countries can be further strengthened.
Rising energy needs and changing supply-demand dynamics are creating new
and tough challenges for Southeast Asia’s policy-makers. Despite existing
opportunities created by appropriate policies, some challenges require a
region-wide approach.
Key challenges
The development of renewable energy projects in the region is an expensive
bill for most ASEAN countries to foot. In a brief published by the Habibie Centre,
financial access was deemed the most important factor for developing
renewable energy projects due to their capital-intensive nature. Currently there
is a lack of experience and expertise in some ASEAN member states,
particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, in evaluating the risk of
renewable energy investment.
“To a large extent, the lack of financial support and channels, including the
availability of public funding support, has made the renewable energy sector a
relatively unattractive sector to invest in,” the brief concluded.
Source:
International Renewable Energy Agency
Geographical and technical conditions are some of the challenges faced by
renewable energy project developers in the Southeast Asian region. A lack of
policies in place to regulate the proper use of land and the subsequent
environmental impact is a growing concern when large scale renewable energy
projects are carried out in the region.
Specific to Indonesia and the Philippines, is the challenge of limited
infrastructure capacity that hinders effective renewable energy deployment, in
regard to electricity transmission. This is because both countries are
archipelagic in nature, resulting in fragmented electricity grids.
The lack of regulatory framework is another major hurdle when it comes to the
introduction and development of renewable energy projects. Brunei, for
example, has no specific policy framework in place to regulate the development
of renewable energy but is currently studying the possibility of creating one.
Another example would be the lack of coordination amongst government
agencies and the private sector as is the case in Lao PDR which effectively
hinders the implementation of the country’s renewable energy priorities and
policies.
Another obstacle would be the issue of complex bureaucracy as is the case in
Indonesia. The State Electricity Company – Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)
– monopolises the transmission, distribution and system operation of electricity,
and dominates the local electricity generation market which inhibits the interests
of potential investors.

Answer the questions

I. Direction: Identify 3 important ideas in the passage and write notes for each of
these ideas.

II. Direction: Identify a quote from the article that you think is very important and
explain why

III. Write 3-5 sentences summarizing the article.