Southeast Asian countries’ planned expansion of gas power could increase the cost of generating electricity to $109 billion by 2030 based on future price projections — more than double the cost of generating the same amount of electricity with solar, according to analysis by energy think tank Ember.
Gas generation is projected to double in the region, reaching 200GW under ASEAN’s 2030 energy transition scenario. Wood Mackenzie research found that rising gas and LNG prices will start feeding into the region’s power prices in the second quarter of the year, with Singapore — where gas accounts for 85% of generation capacity — and the Philippines likely to experience the earliest effects. Singapore plans to import up to 6GW of low-carbon electricity by 2035 while battery requirements in the Philippines illustrate how “the pivot to homegrown renewables can provide more options to buffer future energy shocks,” said Dinita Setyawati, a senior energy analyst at Ember.
