But in the process, stakeholders also face three main challenges — energy security, energy sustainability and energy affordability.
To meet this “tri-lemma” head on, as Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) president and CEO Baharin Din pointed out, there is a need to prioritise efforts to strengthen cooperation among Asean countries and their respective utilities.
To achieve this target, the Asean Power Grid, which is an essential part of this cross-border partnership, must be fortified, he said.
Baharin said by working together and leveraging on their collective strength, countries in the region would be able to accelerate the deployment of renewable technologies, the development of innovative energy storage solutions and the enhancement of energy efficiency practices.
Malaysia, as the Asean Energy Hub, has a pivotal role to play in advancing the region’s sustainable energy future towards net zero in the region, he added.
According to Baharin, TNB has begun discussions with utilities across Asean as well as their governments on matters of sharing resources and introducing flexibility solutions at scale.
In August, he shared the feedback from regional counterparts including Indonesia’s PLN, Thailand’s EGAT, Laos’s EDL and Singapore’s SP Group.
“They are committed to making it happen, as the interconnection enables better renewable energy (RE) allocation, supports system security and opens up a gateway to over US$6.3 trillion of new investments by 2050 as projected by the International Renewable Energy Agency,” Baharin said.
“We all agreed that the time was right to make the Asean Power Grid a reality given that it was now a matter of our survival,” he added.
Drawing from the lessons learnt from energy transitions in other regions, Baharin said existing technologies should not be completely displaced.
Instead, he added, there was an urgent need to work together across borders to optimise resources and ensure balance in energy production and usage while enabling the nation’s economic growth.
TNB plans to invest upwards of RM90 billion in the Asean Power Grid over the next six years to support the National Energy Transition Roadmap.
The national utility is also focussed on ensuring the grid is flexible enough to accommodate the evolving energy landscape.