Prof. Laurence L Delina and his four students visited the ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE) on Monday, 30 January 2023 to learn about ACE’s experience on energy and climate nexus through ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT).

• ACE representatives from the ACCEPT team: Beni Suryadi (Project Manager), Aldilla Rakhiemah (Senior Researcher) and Muhammad Shidiq (Senior Researcher) welcomed the party to the ACE office.
• Delina and his four students wanted to learn about ACE and their role as an intergovernmental organisation in energy and to discuss about energy and climate nexus in ASEAN.
• The discussion also revolved around the possibility of collaboration, such as joint research and or student exchange.

The Hongkong University of Science & Technology (HUST) Professor, Laurence L Delina, PhD. with his four students visited ACE office to learn about ASEAN, ACE and ACCEPT II. During the visit, Professor Delina explained his gratitude to ACE for the opportunity to learn more about ASEAN Secretariat role, ACE’s role within the region as well as projects that are being implemented by ACE including ACCEPT II. Beni Suryadi and the ACCEPT team were more than happy to welcome the delegates to ACE.

In the discussion, Beni described the ASEAN Secretariat role and its energy division where their role is more on the secretariat function and less on the technical (research and think tank) roles. In contrast, there are ASEAN entities such as the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), where its roles cover both the secretariat and the technical function. ACE is an intergovernmental organisation within the ASEAN structure that represents the 10 ASEAN Member States’ (AMS) interests in the energy sector. The organisation has three critical roles: catalyst, knowledge hub and think tank. As a catalyst, the organisation aims to unify and strengthen ASEAN Energy Cooperation, while as a knowledge hub, ACE provides knowledge repository for the ASEAN Member States (AMS). As a think tank, ACE is to assist AMS on research as well as to identify practical and specific solution on energy policies.

The ASEAN region has a regional blueprint for their energy cooperation called the ASEAN Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation (APAEC). In the implementation of APAEC, ACE is working closely with Dialogue Partners (DPs), such as the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) Japan, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, one of ACE’s on-going projects is the ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project Phase 2 (ACCEPT II). The 48-months project is funded by the Norwegian – ASEAN Regional Integration Programme (NARIP) and implemented by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

On the follow-up discussion, Beni Suryadi emphasised the importance of cooperation among AMS to successfully implement energy security, accessibility, affordability and sustainability within the region. One example of successful energy cooperation is the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), which aims to enhance the region’s electricity interconnection. One of the APG’s projects is the Lao PDR-Thailand,-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project or LTMS-PIP. The idea is to transfer power up to 100MW from Lao PDR to Singapore via Malaysia and Thailand’s existing transmission grid networks. It is reported that as of September 2019, 24.93 GWh of electricity has been transferred via the LTM-PIP.

Lastly, the Professor and the students thanked the ACE colleagues for welcoming them and explaining about the ASEAN structure, ACE’s roles, as well as its programs and on-going projects. As a follow up, the delegates would like to stay connected with ACE and ACCEPT team members to discuss further on any energy and climate issues and to explore potential collaboration in the future. Hearing this, the ACCEPT team was more than happy to stay connected with the delegates and be open for any collaboration with the institution in the future.

Detailed information on ACCEPT can be found at https://accept.aseanenergy.org/. ACCEPT welcomes for collaboration, please feel free to contact ACCEPT at [email protected]