Asia Pacific Energy leaders identify seven key trends for a sustainable energy future

• Seven key actions enable a sustainable energy future
• Carbon-neutrality is paramount for the long-term economic
  prosperity of the region
• Event partners included German Chambers of Commerce Abroad,
  Asia-Pacific Hydrogen Association, Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit,
  Masdar, and Siemens Gamesa
• More than 2,500 participants joined in the virtual
  discussions over two days.

 

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 12 March 2021 – Regional
and global business leaders, policy makers and government representatives
throughout the energy sector convened at the Asia Pacific Energy Week to
discuss regional challenges and opportunities. Themed ‘Shaping the Energy of
Tomorrow’, the 2-day virtual event held from March 9 to 10, 2021 saw more than
2,500 participants actively engage in the discussions, opinion polls and
questions. The primary objective focused on fostering an ecosystem of
collaboration and co-creation between stakeholders to help meet the world’s
sustainability goals, boost economic growth, create new jobs and industries,
improve human welfare and attain carbon neutrality by 2050.

 

Over the two days, the
thought leaders in diverse panel sessions deliberated and arrived at 7 key
trends for a successful transition towards a sustainable energy future.

 

1. Access to reliable, affordable and sustainable
   energy supply is a necessity for economic growth
2. Ramp up the contribution of renewable energy for
   long-term sustainability
3. Utilize technology for efficient and cleaner use of
   energy
4. Embrace emerging and cleaner energy resources like
   Green Hydrogen
5. Digitalization and AI-driven technologies will form
   the core of a future-proof and efficient transmission system
6. Access to sustainable, competitive capital will
   accelerate the energy transformation journey
7. Collaboration among stakeholders is imperative for
   the transformation of the energy landscape

“As
the world’s fastest growing economic region today, Asia Pacific is witnessing
increasing urbanization, rising population and monumental energy needs. With
Asia Pacific accounting for more than half of global energy consumption, and
with 10% of the population still lacking access to basic electricity, the
question is how to bridge into an affordable, reliable and sustainable power
supply, while improving energy access,” said Christian Bruch, President and
CEO, Siemens Energy.

 

With prices of renewables declining and with grid stabilization
technology advancing, ramping up the contribution of renewable sources makes
economic sense and will also drive long-term sustainability for the region.
Governments can contribute with policies and regulations driving this change,
and the industry could translate emerging business strategies into practical
busines models, develop reliable projects and drive technological innovations.
To accelerate the energy transition, all stakeholders must join forces and work
towards the transformation.

 

Audience
engagement also revealed some vital insights on energy transition:

• More than
  45% of the participants indicated that cost was a major hurdle followed by
  willingness for energy transition at nearly 25%
• Over 66%
  identified renewable integration as the most impactful decarbonization element
• 48% voted
  that a breakthrough in energy storage will accelerate energy transition
• 75% of
  participants would be willing to pay a premium for CO2 free energy, and
• Policy and
  regulation will be a key motivator.

 

The event was organized in collaboration
with the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHK);  the Asia-Pacific Hydrogen Association; 
the Global Manufacturing and Industrialization Summit (GMIS); Masdar – a
global leader in renewable energy and sustainable urban development which is
wholly-owned by the Abu Dhabi government’s Mubadala Investment Company, and
Siemens Gamesa.

 

Recordings of the sessions can be accessed by
registered accounts here: https://live.apweek.siemens-energy-events.com

 

This press release and further material is available
at https://press.siemens-energy.com/global/en/pressrelease/asia-pacific-energy-leaders-identify-seven-key-trends-sustainable-energy-future

 

Follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/siemens_energy

 

Seven key trends for a sustainable energy future

 

1. Access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy
supply is a necessity for economic growth

“In the Philippines, about 95% of society is energized. The
biggest issue for us is the affordability of tariffs followed by concerns of
energy security as our energy infrastructure is in the hands of the private
sector. Therefore, we need to find the balance between accessibility,
affordability, and sustainability. As regards to our country’s sustainable
future, we have issued a moratorium for green power plants. We have also signed
various MoUs to develop Hydrogen solutions and are looking at the electrolysis
technology for power generation.”

H.E. Alfonso G. Cusi

Energy Secretary, Department of Energy
(Philippines)

      

2. Ramp up the contribution of renewables for long-term
sustainability

“Under our National Grand Energy Strategy, we
hope to bring more renewable into the energy system of about 23% of the energy
mix by 2025, its equivalent to additional 38GW renewable powerplant by 2035. We
have a lot of resources that are fossil-based such as coal deposits, oil and
natural gas as well as enormous renewable potential are our primary energy
sources. In the next 10 years, we want to leverage on technology to build up
capacity and infrastructure including 18 priority transmissions, 7 smart grid projects
and renewable energy. Another program to reduce petroleum consumption, we have
about 5,200 diesel power plants right now scattered across 2,130 locations in
Indonesia and we are serious on the journey of converting diesel plants to
renewable energy to possibly reduce up to 0.7mil tonnes of carbon emissions.”

H.E. Arifin Tasrif

Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources (Indonesia)

 

3. Utilize technology for efficient and cleaner use of energy

“Asia Pacific is not only the fastest growing region but also the fastest
transforming market. With more than 50% of our portfolio based on decarbonized
technology and over 20% revenue generated from Asia Pacific, Siemens Energy has
been — and will be — committed to supporting countries on their individual paths
toward decarbonization. We drive the shift from nuclear and coal to gas and
provide grid technologies to support the integration of renewables.”

Dr Jochen Eickholt

Member of the Executive Board, Siemens Energy AG

4. Embrace emerging and cleaner energy resources like Green
Hydrogen

“We see
green hydrogen as a key means to achieving this ambition (of wanting to export
our renewable energy to the world) and firmly believe that South Australia can
become a hydrogen supplier of choice to the Asia-Pacific region. We have been a
leader within Australia with our vision to become a world-class hydrogen
supplier – as the first Australian jurisdiction to
showcase our hydrogen vision through the 2017 Hydrogen Roadmap, and which was
reinforced by the release of our Hydrogen Action Plan in 2019. The action plan outlines 20
specific actions across five important themes, with the objective of scaling-up
renewable hydrogen production for domestic consumption and international
export.”

Hon Dan van Holst
Pellekaan MP

South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining

5. Digitalization and AI-driven intelligence will form the
core of a future-proof and efficient transmission system

“Digitalization is the
definition of the future. Utilities will stand to gain exponential benefits from
digital solutions. On our end, digitalization helped us to maximize our asset
management and performance especially during the pandemic, to support
decision-making and analytics in addressing the changing loads of our
distribution transformers. There are ample technical solutions that we can ride
on but these require capital investment that requires regulatory approvals, and
close collaboration with stakeholders on what projects to pursue and
prioritize. In order to drive execution to become much cheaper, we will need
the strong support from regulators and the government, as well as a close
collaboration within the energy sector. The power to make Mother Earth a better
place is in our hands.”

Ronnie L. Aperocho

Senior Vice President, Networks Meralco Philippines

6. Access to capital at reasonable costs will accelerate the
energy transition journey

“To successfully drive the transformation of energy systems
worldwide, sufficient financial resources are needed. Take Europe, where we
need an estimated €30 trillion by 2050 to decarbonize all our systems. To
accomplish this mammoth task, private capital is needed, as well as the
appropriate political framework conditions. Again, it’s all about
collaboration. The good news here — this is growing enormously.”

Christian Bruch

President and CEO, Siemens Energy AG

“In my view,
achieving any nett zero carbon goals will require a complete supply chain of
understanding, collaboration and agreement between the different parties,
namely, legislators, government and consumers. The conversion from fossil fuel
to renewable energy requires political will, legislations and policies in
place, the willingness to push for change and agreement of consumers to pay a
higher premium (with renewables). For power generators like TNB, we are more
than happy to support and transform if there is some subsidy to defray the
costs of our investment. As the audience poll suggested, more than 70% of
popular opinion believes that policies and regulations provide the most impact
to decarbonization. For Malaysia, solar will be the most sought -after
renewable source followed by wind power, while battery storage will be the game
changer of the energy of the future.”

Dato’ Nor Azman bin Mufti,

Managing Director, TNB Power
Generation

7. Collaboration among stakeholders is imperative for
transformation of the energy landscape

“To get to a sustainable energy future we have to join forces.
Public sector and private sector must work in tandem for two main reasons.
First, private sector capital will accelerate investment and there is a need
for more public-private partnerships. Second, companies will translate emerging
business strategies into viable business models, developing bankable projects
and driving technological innovations. IRENA continues working with all
stakeholders to accelerate energy transitions around the world.”

Francesco La Camera

Director General, The International Renewable Energy Agency
(IRENA)