{
  "id": 7698739,
  "title": "Bilateral agreements key to mitigating risks of Asean Power Grid projects: OCBC",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/bilateral-agreements-key-to-mitigating-risks-of-asean-power-grid",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-16T04:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Business Times - Companies & Markets",
    "slug": "the-business-times-companies-markets",
    "url": "https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/esg/bilateral-agreements-key-mitigating-risks-asean-power-grid-projects-ocbc"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Singapore's Energy Market Authority has granted conditional approvals or licenses for the import of 3.4 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon electricity from Indonesia and a 1 GW project from Sarawak, as part of the region's Asean Power Grid (APG) project. However, progress on building regionwide connectivity has been slow due to ongoing discussions, which began over two decades ago. OCBC group chief sustainability officer Mike Ng stated that the absence of a durable cross-border legal framework is the root cause of the political and regulatory risks impeding the APG's development. To overcome these challenges, Ng suggested that governments within the regional bloc should first ink overarching bilateral agreements governing cross-border electricity trade. The Singapore Sustainable Finance Association (SSFA) reported on the report's findings, which focused on two import-export corridors - Singapore to Indonesia and Singapore to Sarawak. These corridors were chosen due to their proximity to Singapore, availability of renewable energy, and demonstrated political commitment. The report highlighted regulatory risks, ownership structures, and revenue models that could impact the bankability of such projects. Ng emphasized that the key to resolving these issues lies in proper risk allocation and compensation. The report also noted a potential pricing gap between current retail or wholesale electricity prices and imported low-carbon electricity, which may affect corporate buyers' decisions in signing long-term power purchase agreements with developers.",
  "summary": "However, progress on building regionwide connectivity is slow, even though discussions on APG are ongoing",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": "Bilateral agreements among Asean countries are crucial to mitigating risks in Power Grid projects by providing a durable cross-border legal framework for governing electricity trade and allocating risks.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}