Why investors are upbeat on the long-delayed Asean power grid

A long-discussed plan for an Asean power grid is gaining steam, according to investors and Indonesian policymakers gathered in Bali, as surging demand from AI and data centres, as well as the region’s energy transition, fuels optimism over the initiative.On Friday, representatives from sovereign wealth funds, institutional capital and family principals converged on the Bali-resort" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="167465" data-entity-type="location">St Regis Bali Resort for the Nusa Dua Forum, organised by the South China Morning Post with Indonesia" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="28064" data-entity-type="organization">Danantara Indonesia as partner.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been planning a unified electricity grid since 1997, but by 2024, only eight of 18 planned interconnection projects were operational, generating around 7.5 gigawatts of capacity, according to the Asean Power Centre.Stefanus Hadiwidjaja, managing director of investment at Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara, pointed to an ambitious cross-border electricity pact proposed between Singapore and Jakarta, as an early significant step towards a regional grid.He was a speaker on a panel discussing investment prospects of the grid at the Nusa Dua summit on Friday. “This is a good start to show the commitment and also the urgency to do this immediately,” he said of the Singapore-Indonesia deal.The cross-border power grid would see Indonesia export at least 3.4GW of low-carbon, renewable electricity to its neighbour, comprising about a third of the city state’s energy demand by 2035.