Southeast Asia has been touted as one of the most dynamic regions which is projected to enjoy increased development and high economic growth rates in the coming years. To keep the cogs of industry turning within the region, there must be adequate supply of electricity.Electricity demand in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to grow between 5 to 6 percent yearly from 2016-2020.

Southeast Asia’s electricity consumption has been rising at an annual rate of 7.5% from 155.3 TWh in 1990 to 821.1 TWh in 2013, according to an article by the ASEAN Centre for Energy in the Spring 2016 issue of Cornerstone Journal. About 60% of electricity usage in Southeast Asian cities is attributable to use of air-conditioning, according to a 2018 white paper produced by Eco-Business Research and Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP).

As of 2015, out of the total population of 630 million people living in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, 107 million do not have access to electricity. Those affected live mostly in remote areas and are far off from electricity grids.Rural electrification is a major challenge for regional development. As rapid urbanisation sees more and more rural towns develop, what undergirds such a shift is access to electricity.

The gears of industry would not turn if not for power. In the modern world, we have come to depend on electric power generated from traditional fossil fuel resources like coal. However, amid a global awareness of the dangers of fossil fuels to our environment, we have since entered a paradigm shift – a shift towards renewable energy.As a region, Southeast Asia cannot be removed from this global upheaval.

The recent hike in coal tax in the Philippines by the Bicameral Conference Committee approving the adjustment of tax on coal from P10 per ton in 1977-2017, to P50 in 2018, P100 in 2019, and P150 in 2020, have sparked debate amongst experts and consumers.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set an ambitious target of securing 23% of its primary energy from renewable sources by 2025 as energy demand in the region will grow by 50%.

Bangkok's Wireless Road may soon live up to its name. Like many streets in the Thai capital, the thoroughfare is festooned with electrical and telecom cables, a black web that hangs menacingly overhead like dystopian Christmas decorations.But Bangkok authorities are now untangling the cables and moving them underground as part of an urban renewal pushed by the Thai junta that seized power in 2014.

The Southeast Asian region is deemed to be one of the most dynamic regions of the global energy system. Due to rapid urbanisation and burgeoning infrastructure and logistics, the energy demand in the region is growing at one of the fastest rates in the world.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd., the world’s biggest builder of oil rigs, agreed to pay $422 million to end a U.S. bribery probe into illegal payments to officials at Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-owned oil company, and to the then-governing political party.Keppel units paid about $55 million to win 13 contracts with Petrobras and another company, U.S. prosecutors said in a press release after an American subsidiary pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

A former Vietnamese official allegedly kidnapped from Germany will go on trial in Hanoi in January on corruption charges, officials said Wednesday, a high-profile case that could see the ex-oil executive put to death.Vietnam's communist government has jailed or arrested scores of former officials, bankers and state executives this year as part of a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown that some observers say is driven by political infighting.