Organisation:
Black & Veatch
Resource Link:
Published in 2022, Black & Veatch 2022 Asia Electric Report
My Key Takeaways
My takeaways from Black & Veatch’s survey and poll of senior electric industry professionals and electricity customers across Asia:
35% of execs in Asia believe renewable integration is their biggest challenge (Figure 1 in report)
Vietnam – from 2019 – 2020, the country’s installed solar capacity leapt from just a few hundreds of MW to 16.8 GW (approximately a quarter of the nation’s grid capacity!).
Insufficient grid and transmission network enhancements led to overloaded grids. A total of 365 million kWh in power was restricted in Ninh Thuan & Binh central provinces in 2020 and 2021.
Laos, Vietnam – as part of the Greater Mekong Subregion integration, both countries reached a 25-year agreement in July 2021 to deliver wind energy from a 600 MW project in Laos to Vietnam.
Singapore announced in Oct 2021 its plans to import 30% of its electricity from low-carbon sources beyond its borders. Started electricity import trials through the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project.
Expanding transmission networks could be more challenging than energy production itself
While a typical solar farm may take 6 to 9 months to develop, high-voltage transmission lines often take years to deploy and can be severely delayed by land issues such as land acquisition, right of way access issues.
Promising tech like composite core conductors & advanced tower designs (e.g. Breakthrough Overhead Line Design® (BOLD)) can decrease footprint, increase power capacity and address land issues.
In the next 5 years, 51% of execs’ top investment focus will be in advanced system control devices that improve grid stability and operations (Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS), sync condensers) (Fig. 11)
Optimism in hydrogen
73% of respondants believe that beyond the next 10 years, hydrogen will help meet decarbonisation goals, far beyond any other energy source (Fig. 4).
More than 46% think hydrogen will take off in their region as a clean & affordable alternative to existing gas generation by 2030.
More than 60% of companies are already electrifying their vehicle fleets or have plans in place (Fig. 23)
An example is Indonesia’s ridehailing unicorn Gojek which plans to have only EVs on its platform by 2030 through partnerships with manufacturers & favorable leasing arrangements.
There’s a will, but Asia needs help finding a way
More than 80% of surveyed companies in Asia, with revenues greater than US$250M, have set decarbonisation goals.
Yet, 25% have set goals at such a level that they are unsure how they will meet them.
What’s more worrying is that 40% of them do not have a decarbonisation roadmap, with one third having a roadmap in place for only the next 5 years (Fig. 26).
“This roadmap blind-spot is perhaps symptomatic of a region still figuring out how to wean itself off fossil fuels.”
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I actually see the above as an immense opportunity for European and UK decarbonisation solution providers and consultants venturing into Singapore and Asia. 🤔
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About Zhilin SIM
Having worked and lived in Singapore, the Nordics, China, Spain, UK, I’m now based in Paris.
I’m fluent in English, French and Mandarin, and I’m learning Arabic because it’s a beautiful and fascinating language.
My team creates and supports one-many initiatives connecting corporate and startup ecosystems in Europe to business and innovation opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
I’m passionate about horticulture, watercolour, startups/tech as well as French cuisine, Peranakan kueh techniques and other global cuisines.
Feel free to connect with me if you think my network in Europe and Asia could be of benefit to your business and innovation activities.
