Southeast Asia’s energy demands are expected to increase by 60% in 2040 according to the International Energy Agency, with increasing electricity consumption driving up the demand for coal as well. Coal will constitute 40% of this growth, to cater to Southeast Asia’s demand for 565GW of electricity by 2040, as reported by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in October 2017.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Southeast Asia has vast untapped renewable energy resources.

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.

Spotlight on energyThis week, The ASEAN Post highlighted some challenges that ASEAN is facing in terms of deploying renewable energy and electrification throughout the region. As the region’s energy demands grows, countries such as Myanmar are moving forward in order to quench the thirst for electricity.

ASEAN this week This week The ASEAN Post covered a wide range of stories ranging from geopolitics to the energy sector.

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.

ENGIE – a French multinational company with operations located across 70 countries, is one of the world's leading energy giants in the renewable energy sector. The ENGIE Group also works with its own research and development lab known as the Center for Research and Innovation on Gas and New Energies (CRIGEN).

“Every now and then a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, an American poet, physician and polymath. Such is the invention of smart cities.A smart city is an area of urban development that utilises various methods of electronic data collection to manage the city’s assets and natural resources.

Prince Charles and wife visits MalaysiaThis week, Malaysia welcomed the heir to the British throne, His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall as the couple continued their 11-day tour of South and Southeast Asia.