IEA: Southeast Asia Needs Grid Investment to Nearly Quadruple by 2050
Southeast Asia needs to invest heavily in upgrading and modernising its transmission networks if countries across the region hope to deploy larger quantities of renewable energy over the next decade. With investment in green energy growing ever higher, the grid systems in countries such as Indonesia, India, and Vietnam simply cannot keep up with capacity growth, creating a bottleneck in power…
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that Southeast Asia must significantly increase its investment in grid infrastructure to support the region's growing renewable energy demand by 2050. Currently, Southeast Asia accounts for 9% of the world's population and 4% of its GDP but is projected to contribute nearly 20% of global energy demand growth to 2035.
To meet this demand and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, eight countries in the region have set net zero targets. The IEA estimates that grid and storage investments need to rise from $13 billion today to $50 billion in 2050, with $27 billion specifically allocated to cross-border interconnections under the ASEAN Power Grid. However, current grid systems are struggling to cope with the rapid growth in renewable energy capacity, which is expected to almost triple by 2035 or grow fivefold if announced targets are achieved.
The IEA notes that Southeast Asia's transmission networks need to more than double in length by 2050 to keep pace with rising demand and manage the growing variability of supply and demand.
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