Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Outlook 2024

Electricity Demand Growth and Decarbonization Efforts Will Drive Investment

This analysis assesses the power and energy market in Asia-Pacific. The primary focus is power generation, but grids, energy storage, hydrogen, and the role of fossils are included in the trends section.

Asia-Pacific encompasses diverse countries, from highly developed economies, such as South Korea and Japan, to under-developed ones such as Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Decarbonization is the stated priority for wealthier East Asian states, although most of them will remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels for a significant portion of their electricity because their energy transition plans are not aggressive enough to change the industry dynamics. In Southeast Asia’s case, power demand growth is strong, and the average age of fossil plants is below 13 years. The region’s countries will need substantially larger global financial support beyond what is promised to close those plants in the next 15 years. For Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific, renewable energy dominates investment. All three regions will invest greatly in grid infrastructure to try and improve resiliency and access to renewable energy, but this alone will not be enough.