How offshore wind can scale up S-E Asia’s energy transition

SOUTH-EAST Asia’s transition away from fossil fuels will require investment in renewable energy on an unprecedented scale.

To keep pace with its economic growth, the Asean region will need to install another 2,770 to 3,400 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity to reach net zero by 2050, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). To put that in context, global renewable capacity today is only 2,352 GW. It’s an enormous gap to fill. The scale of this challenge, however, is also an opportunity to develop new, sustainable energy sources that will drive growth at the same time as cutting emissions.

Offshore wind is perhaps the most scalable clean energy technology in much of South-east Asia, especially in countries with long coastlines and where the available land for utility-scale solar installations is relatively scarce. From a generation perspective, offshore wind energy tends to be more stable than onshore wind or solar power, while the offshore location avoids disrupting other land users.