Most of Asia is well ahead of the U.S. when it comes to green energy, and this week, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has revitalized an old vision: Creating a single regional power-sharing grid, called a "super grid" that would interconnect countries’ electricity networks to help bolster renewable energy exchange across borders.

In a political and cultural climate that’s been increasingly against climate-oriented technology and has become increasingly regionalized, this is a significant move and one that would enable those with surplus clean energy to transfer their power to those with deficits, improving energy security, economic growth, stability, and environmental sustainability. It offers a glimmer of hope in the war on climate change as some of the other global superpowers seem intent on sliding back into the petrostate era. While the path to a renewable supergrid may be bumpy, large-scale investment in everything from transmission lines to battery storage offers signs of hope for the future of a more resilient, renewable grid.

The Asian Supergrid as a Template for Other Grids

A 30-km cable stretching from Malaysia's Sarawak state to its neighbor, Sabah, will be live by Q2 this year, and as Bloomberg reports, the plan is to connect that cable across the South China Sea, with a number of Indonesian provinces as well as Brunei and Peninsular Malaysia.

As Bloomberg notes, “It may just be a power cable, but the soon-to-be-operational connection between two Malaysian states could unlock one of the world’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.”

ASEAN has ten members, and the planned super grid would allow all of them to access renewable energy and accelerate the area's already quick-moving transition away from fossil fuels. The success of this super grid is crucial to the region's ambitious goals of cutting emissions and getting off of petrol fuels.

While renewable super grid projects are under construction and consideration around the world in places like India, China, and Europe, what sets the ASEAN project apart is that it will transport renewable energy from those countries with a lot of it, to those with less.

Southeast Asia is poised to become a significant driver of global energy demand in the coming decade, propelled by rapid economic expansion, population growth, and increased manufacturing activities. This surge in energy consumption presents a two-pronged challenge: meeting the rising demand while adhering to climate commitments.

Historically, the region has relied heavily on fossil fuels, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and heightened exposure to the volatility of global fuel markets. The recent fluctuations in fossil fuel prices have underscored the urgency for ASEAN countries to transition towards more stable and sustainable energy sources.

A regional super grid offers a strategic solution to these challenges because it will enable the transfer of electricity from renewable resources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric so that member states can optimize their resource usage. One country could export its excess renewable energy to neighboring nations facing shortages, which would significantly reduce the region's carbon footprint and offer enhanced energy security. While it's not perfect, thanks to the region's diversity, it could offer significant opportunities for the area.

For example, Singapore recently announced that it is investing in a huge $24 billion submarine cable that will take renewable energy from Australia and deliver it to the island nation. That project is on track to begin in 2027, and it offers a future glimpse of what kind of reception we might expect from the global community. Tech companies are very eager to invest in the region's talented, digitally savvy population for future investment and work. Having a stable supply of renewable energy will help accelerate that move for corporations and countries all over the world.

The idea behind regional super grids is not new, and they have been gaining some traction worldwide in spite of the backsliding away from renewables that we’ve seen in the U.S. The EU, for example, has been looking into the development of a transnational grid to harness and redistribute renewable energy in an efficient way across member states. This has accelerated in the light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, in particular, because of the damage that has occurred to the natural gas pipeline, which supplies much of Europe with its energy.

The Role of Battery Storage in Supergrids

As these renewable super grids get underway, challenges lie ahead, developments in battery storage technology will loom large.

This past week alone has yielded several announcements on major battery deals on the scale of what is expected to be required to make the ASEAN project work.

China’s BYD (the electric carmaker) recently won a contract to supply the Saudi Electric Company 12.5 GWh of grid-scale battery storage, which underscores a pivotal trend in global energy strategies–the integration of large-scale energy storage solutions to stabilize and enhance power grids amid increasing renewable energy adoption.

Saudi Arabia is a petrostate, and its commitment to diversifying its mix of energy supply is good news, especially in light of the ASEAN announcement. As countries worldwide escalate their renewable energy capacities, the necessity for reliable, large-scale storage solutions becomes increasingly evident. These systems are essential for mitigating the intermittency of renewable sources like solar and wind, ensuring a consistent and dependable energy supply.

In the Middle East, nations such as the United Arab Emirates are making significant strides in this arena. The UAE has announced a $6 billion investment in a 5 GW solar plant, complemented by over 19 GWh of battery storage. This initiative aims to deliver a continuous 1 GW output, sufficient to power more than 700,000 homes, thereby reducing reliance on gas-fired plants during non-sunny periods. In fact, the Middle East has become the fastest-growing renewables market outside of China.

ASEAN is taking notice of this trend. Singapore (one of the ASEAN nations), for instance, is in discussions to expand its battery energy storage system on Jurong Island, currently the largest in Southeast Asia, a part of a broader strategy to enhance grid resilience and support the nation's commitment to peak emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Similarly, the Philippines one of the world's largest integrated renewable energy and storage projects, significantly bolstering the country's clean energy infrastructure.

While it will take time and plenty of continued investment to roll out renewable super grids around the world, and many of them are still many years from completion, it's good to see how quickly these advancements and investments are moving, especially as some of the more powerful countries in the world seem intent on backsliding into an era of pollutive industry.

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