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Straits Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
China, South Korea and Japan looking into Asean's clean energy market amid US scale-back
The Asean power grid allows countries in South-east Asia to trade electricity freely to meet rising demand. PHOTO: ST FILE China, South Korea and Japan looking into Asean's clean energy market amid US scale-back SINGAPORE – South-east Asia is a developing region with a huge appetite for energy, and investors in China, South Korea and Japan are now finding promise in investing in renewable energy projects in Asean. A new report released on May 20 found that the number of international investment projects for renewable energy in Asean has increased by an average of about 15 per cent per year since 2020, with investments reaching US$43 billion (S$55.8 billion) in 2022. This growth rate is higher than the global average of 11 per cent , according to the report by climate and energy research group Zero Carbon Analytics. In terms of public financing, China was the largest investor in Asean clean energy with over US$2.7 billion between 2013 and 2023, followed by Japan with US$2.45 billion. Meanwhile, South Korea invested US$583 million and Australia put in US$51 million. The four countries are some of Asean's largest clean energy investors, according to the report, adding that they are the major external powers shaping South-east Asia's energy transition. The five Asean recipient countries in the report are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Asean's electricity demand is expected to grow 41 per cent by the end of the decade , and renewable energy capacity is expected to increase by 300 to 500 per cent by 2035 , said the report. However, the developing region – which is still heavily reliant on coal for its energy needs – needs foreign investment for the energy transition, with major financing gaps in renewables and grid development. The report comes amid the scale-back in climate initiatives and spending by the US, such as laying out plans to phase out clean energy tax credits and slash spending on electric vehicles and renewable energy . The US – one of the world's largest emitters – also said in January that it would pull out of the Paris Agreement, a pact signed by nearly 200 countries in 2015 to limit global warming to 1.5 deg C above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Ms Sharon Seah, coordinator at the Asean Studies Centre and Climate Change in South-east Asia Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and one of the experts speaking at a webinar for the report on May 20, said that the global climate vacuum is 'very concerning'. 'There's been a lack of leadership... and the concern within the region really is about the normative effect that this can have on the other countries,' she said. But the report showed that some economies in Asia seem to be rising to the occasion. For example, China leads in the investments for wind and hydropower among the four countries, and provided US$1.83 billion for clean energy financing in South-east Asia in 2024 under its Belt and Road Initiative. It also led in clean energy trade with the five South-east Asian countries, driven by strong exports of EV batteries, solar modules and wind components. Meanwhile, Japan is the region's bigger investor in geothermal and solar energy, with investments of US$1.3 billion and US$142 million respectively. South Korea was the largest exporter of battery components to Indonesia and Malaysia between 2017 and 2024. It also has a hand in financing mechanisms to support climate projects in Asean, albeit on a smaller scale. The report also found that intentional and transparent policy by Asean countries can increase investor confidence in the energy transition. The Asean power grid, for instance, finally made headway after Singapore said in 2021 that it plans to import around 30 per cent of its electricity from low-carbon sources, such as renewable energy plants, by 2035. Power grid integration was first mooted in 1997 to enhance cross-border electricity trade in South-east Asia to ensure energy security. However, it was the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore (LTMS) electricity import pilot launched in 2022 that finally saw the region's first multilateral electricity trade take place. That same year, Singapore started importing up to 100MW of hydropower from Laos via existing interconnectors – cross-border electricity transmission lines – between the four countries. An Asean grid will allow the Republic, which lacks access to most renewable energy options other than solar, to tap sources such as wind energy and hydropower in other countries. The Asean power grid also allows countries in South-east Asia, where renewable resources are unevenly distributed, to trade electricity freely to meet rising demand. Such a grid would hedge against the intermittencies of renewables by distributing energy more efficiently. Eighteen key interconnection projects have been identified under the Asean power grid, of which half have been completed. Ms Seah noted: 'What (other) countries are interested in right now is to just explore what opportunities there are in the Asean power grid ... and assess whether (Asean) countries are serious about completing those other nine interconnections.' On the heels of the L T MS project, t he Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines (BIMP) power integration project was announced in August 2023 . It aims to create multiple interconnections across the grids of the four countries, drawing on key lessons from the LTMS. Feasibility studies on the interconnections must be done before financing support can be sought for the subsea cables, said Ms Seah, who added that she expects to see more progress on the project this year with Malaysia chairing Asean. Ms Dinita Setyawati, a senior energy analyst at energy think-tank Ember who also spoke on the webinar, said that while the Asean power grid has attracted 'a lot of interest' from development partners who are interested in selling their technologies, the project has to first materialise before investors crowd in. She added that energy transition is not only about replacing fossil fuels with renewables or financing renewable energy projects, but also about looking into investment in infrastructure like power grids and upskilling of workers in the industry. The Asean power grid would have many benefits for countries in the region other than providing green electricity, including the creation of new jobs, reduced air pollution, and significant investments generated for the energy sector. According to the first phase of the US-Singapore feasibility study on regional energy connectivity, the regional grid can generate US$2 billion annually in research and development, and create as many as 9,000 jobs a year. Ms Seah said: 'It's a good thing that the region has actually decided that physical interconnectivity will be a manifestation of what they really want to do, which is to integrate economically.' 'But the Asean power grid has been discussed for the last three decades, so it really needs a few countries to be a champion of the Asean power grid and to bring it to fruition,' she added. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Peru farmer in German court battle with energy giant
A Peruvian farmer faces off in a German court Monday in a "David and Goliath" battle against an energy giant, demanding the firm pay for climate change damage. Saul Luciano Lliuya, 44, argues that electricity producer RWE -- one of the world's top emitters of climate-altering carbon dioxide -- must share the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a swollen glacier lake at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice. He wants the German company to pay 17,000 euros ($18,400) towards flood defences for his community, arguing that the fossil fuels the firm uses to generate electricity make it partly responsible for the flood risk. "What I am asking is for the company to take responsibility for part of the construction costs," he said at a press conference in Lima earlier this month. "I have full confidence in these processes." However much confidence Lliuya has in proceedings, they have moved at a glacial pace. He first filed a lawsuit in 2015 but a court in the western German city of Essen, where RWE is headquartered, dismissed it the following year. However, in 2017 a higher court in the city of Hamm, also in western Germany, allowed an appeal. After a delay due to the Covid pandemic, hearings are scheduled from Monday to Wednesday, and Lliuya will be attending. "I would never have thought that it would all take so long," Lliuya told Germanwatch, a German environmental NGO supporting him in the case. - 'Fair contribution' - The hearing will ask if Lliuya's property in Peru's Ancash region is at substantial risk of flooding, examining evidence collected by court-appointed experts who travelled to the area in 2022. If confirmed, a subsequent hearing would look at the question of RWE's responsibility. Lliuya bases his claim on a 2014 study that concluded RWE was responsible for 0.47 percent of all global carbon emissions since the start of the industrial era. RWE, which has never operated in Peru, should pay that share of the 3.5 million euros it would cost to lower the waters of Lake Palcacocha, he says. Founded in 1898, RWE power plants today use a variety of power sources including solar, wind, gas and coal. "It is time for companies like RWE to make a fair contribution to the costs of the damage they have helped to cause," said Francesca Mascha Klein, legal officer at Germanwatch. RWE says a court ruling in favour of Lliuya would set a precedent of holding people responsible under German law for actions that have environmental consequences far outside the country. "We think that is legally inadmissible and the wrong way to address this issue socially and politically," a spokesman said. Dismissing the case in 2015, the Essen court said that it was impossible to draw a link between particular emissions and particular damage. The Hamm hearing might be the first stage towards overturning that opinion at a time when 43 climate-damage cases are ongoing worldwide, according to Zero Carbon Analytics, a not-for-profit research group. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm representing RWE, says that there could be major implications: "The sum in dispute may be less than 20,000 euros. But the precedent-setting potential is clear." vbw-mb/sr/cw
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Peru farmer in German court battle with energy giant
A Peruvian farmer faces off in a German court Monday in a "David and Goliath" battle against an energy giant, demanding the firm pay for climate change damage. Saul Luciano Lliuya, 44, argues that electricity producer RWE -- one of the world's top emitters of climate-altering carbon dioxide -- must share the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a swollen glacier lake at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice. He wants the German company to pay 17,000 euros ($18,400) towards flood defences for his community, arguing that the fossil fuels the firm uses to generate electricity make it partly responsible for the flood risk. "What I am asking is for the company to take responsibility for part of the construction costs," he said at a press conference in Lima earlier this month. "I have full confidence in these processes." However much confidence Lliuya has in proceedings, they have moved at a glacial pace. He first filed a lawsuit in 2015 but a court in the western German city of Essen, where RWE is headquartered, dismissed it the following year. However, in 2017 a higher court in the city of Hamm, also in western Germany, allowed an appeal. After a delay due to the Covid pandemic, hearings are scheduled from Monday to Wednesday, and Lliuya will be attending. "I would never have thought that it would all take so long," Lliuya told Germanwatch, a German environmental NGO supporting him in the case. - 'Fair contribution' - The hearing will ask if Lliuya's property in Peru's Ancash region is at substantial risk of flooding, examining evidence collected by court-appointed experts who travelled to the area in 2022. If confirmed, a subsequent hearing would look at the question of RWE's responsibility. Lliuya bases his claim on a 2014 study that concluded RWE was responsible for 0.47 percent of all global carbon emissions since the start of the industrial era. RWE, which has never operated in Peru, should pay that share of the 3.5 million euros it would cost to lower the waters of Lake Palcacocha, he says. Founded in 1898, RWE power plants today use a variety of power sources including solar, wind, gas and coal. "It is time for companies like RWE to make a fair contribution to the costs of the damage they have helped to cause," said Francesca Mascha Klein, legal officer at Germanwatch. RWE says a court ruling in favour of Lliuya would set a precedent of holding people responsible under German law for actions that have environmental consequences far outside the country. "We think that is legally inadmissible and the wrong way to address this issue socially and politically," a spokesman said. Dismissing the case in 2015, the Essen court said that it was impossible to draw a link between particular emissions and particular damage. The Hamm hearing might be the first stage towards overturning that opinion at a time when 43 climate-damage cases are ongoing worldwide, according to Zero Carbon Analytics, a not-for-profit research group. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm representing RWE, says that there could be major implications: "The sum in dispute may be less than 20,000 euros. But the precedent-setting potential is clear." vbw-mb/sr/cw
