Embracing energy transition is core to market growth. While many economies are incorporating more renewable energy generation into their energy portfolio to address universal electrification and sustainability goals, conventional power generation remains a baseload mainstay for most developing economies as governments strive to bring electrification to remote areas.

In search of innovative, flexible processes and modernized technologies that yield efficient and consistent delivery, investments in both smaller, higher-volume construction projects and large, complex engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects support reliable and sustainable energy. Digitalization, automation, analytics and other high-tech practices are providing holistic views of the power infrastructure to increase efficiencies and reduce overhead costs.

Regional governments are making good progress in supplying affordable and reliable energy by advancing the implementation of emerging technologies.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that more than 90 percent of the population in Asia’s developing countries has access to electricity. In 2000, the share of people with access to electricity was 62 percent.

This result can be attributed to the region’s foresight of investing in integrated power infrastructure to rebalance its energy portfolios.

An integrated power infrastructure takes advantage of different generation, transmission and distribution technologies to help utilities overcome the pitfalls of aging infrastructure assets while meeting rising customer demand for energy that is renewable and reliable. Portfolio diversification offers improved operation efficiencies while mitigating extreme weather risks.

The IEA also forecasts in its Southeast Asia Energy Outlook 2017 that demand for natural gas will grow by 60 percent by 2040 due to rising consumption in power generation and industry. LNG production and shipping technologies, particularly FLNG, also are maturing, supporting conventional generation as an important aspect of a diverse energy portfolio.

Viable power generation options depend on factors such as the cost of technologies, local resource availability, topography and population density. Regional governments have discovered that grid-connected generation may be ideal, but at the same time there is a role for distributed power generation.

For example, distributed power generation incorporating renewable energy sources, or microgrids, offers autonomous energy that is efficient, reliable and environmentally friendly for places prone to natural disasters or have little infrastructure.

Microgrids and hybrid systems ease dependence on the national grid while enabling a more reliable and consistent supply of power by stabilizing fluctuations in output from the intermittent renewable resources. By optimizing output and reducing variability, these systems improve the bankability of renewable energy projects.

With the costs for renewable energy technologies decreasing, renewable energy presents the potential to scale up cost-competitive electrification with a low-carbon footprint. The IRENA forecasts that cost reductions, particularly for solar and wind power technologies, will continue into the next decade.

In anticipation of harnessing a larger amount of renewable energy, regional governments are investing in battery storage systems and conventional gas-fired plants to stabilize the grid by mitigating the intermittency issues of renewable energy.

Adopting battery technology allows the region to store renewable energy during peak production periods and release it at times of high demand, or when the weather is unsuitable for renewable generation from wind or solar.

The quick-start capability of gas-fired power plants balances system loads and maintains grid stability during periods of high demand — when renewable capacity alone is insufficient or when there is not enough wind or sunshine to generate wind or solar power.

The region’s anticipated demand in electrification also is driven by new technologies.

EVs are just one example. Southeast Asia's growing transport sector, for example, shows potential for increased deployment of renewable energy. IRENA and the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) estimate that by 2025, 20 percent of passenger automobiles could be electrified to meet the region’s growing demand for mobility and sustainability. The region is investigating possibilities for building up its EV charging infrastructure.

In countries where EV uptake is becoming widespread, we are seeing unprecedented market changes as EV owners begin to offer spare battery capacity, or sell unused power, to power companies and distribution companies.

At the same time, the market is redefining traditional and nontraditional clients and their power requirements. Nontraditional clients such as corporations in both the commercial and industrial sector are setting new paths for renewables procurement as they seek greater reliability while contributing to their sustainability goals.

Data centers are an example of a nontraditional client. To provide uninterrupted, reliable services, data centers require uninterrupted, reliable sources of power. Electricity accounts for about 40 percent of a data center’s operating costs.

To ensure uninterrupted service, most data center operators will generate some, if not all, of their own electricity. This usually is achieved by a mix of renewable and thermal energy sources, battery storage and grid connectivity all managed by smart power distribution technology — creating a microgrid.

Microgrids can offer resilience, as well as potential revenue streams as power companies often pay major users to reduce loads and peak times and will buy surplus power generated or stored by the microgrid.

Floating Solar Farms

Southeast Asia is investing in renewable energy plants that can be integrated into existing power grids or function as standalone facilities in the pursuit of universal electrification and sustainability.

One area that has attracted interest is floating solar systems. Floating solar systems, or floatovoltaics, refer to the deployment of PV panels on the surface of water bodies.

With solar energy generation requiring large areas for PV panels to be laid, floating solar systems present a solution that effectively can address land acquisition issues. The business case for floating solar technologies is strong in markets that are balancing high population density and competing uses for available land. Floatovoltaics on a hydro-dam reservoir offers easy access to power evacuation to grid and a hydro-floating solar hybrid solution for improved grid performance.

Thailand plans to build its largest floating solar farm (325 MW) at Sirikit Dam. The Sirikit project is scheduled for completion in 2035. Thailand plans to float 16 solar farms with a combined capacity of more than 2.7 GW in nine of its hydroelectric dam reservoirs by 2037.

Singapore will be deploying a 50-megawatt peak (MWp) floating solar PV system by 2021. Two other 1.5-MWp floating solar PV systems are being implemented on Bedok and Lower Seletar reservoirs. When the floating systems on Bedok, Lower Seletar and Tengeh reservoirs are completed, there will be a total solar capacity of 57 MWp.

Hong Kong successfully installed its first pilot floating solar system at Shek Pik Reservoir in 2017 for supplying electricity to the nearby pumping station of the reservoir. This was followed by a second pilot at Plover Cove Reservoir, which was successfully installed in the same year, for supplying electricity to the nearby air compressor house of the reservoir. Each pilot was designed for a generation capacity of 100 kW. Each of the system can generate as much as 120,000 units (kilowatt hours) of electricity annually.

The Philippines' first and biggest floating solar (FPV) testbed is under construction in Laguna Lake.  The project aims to investigate the effectiveness of combining the technology with a screw piling method to withstand typhoons.

Floating solar projects in India include a 10-kW farm in Kolkata, a 100-kW farm by Indian energy conglomerate NTPC in Kerala and a 2MW farm by Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Limited (GVSCCL) in Visakhapatnam. NTPC has issued a tender for 70 MW of grid-connected floating solar at its Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant in Kayamkulam, in the state of Kerala.