Research Database

This chapter explores the potential of a transnational energy approach in South Asia and Southeast Asia, focusing on how integrated energy markets can promote international cooperation, enhance regional integration, and reduce carbon emissions, with a comparative analysis of institutional frameworks and a SWOT analysis to evaluate the prospects of such networks, ultimately aiming to foster regional cooperation and contribute to a sustainable, zero-carbon future in Asia.

The article discusses the importance of renewable energy for ASEAN's sustainable development and outlines the challenges, goals, and initiatives in achieving a 23% renewable energy target, highlighting the need for policy adjustments and further research to optimize renewable resource potential.

In this paper, solar policy and support mechanisms in ASEAN countries are investigated. In general, solar PV development in the past decade has been remarkable. Based on the available data, Vietnam has the highest installed capacity (16.5 GW) in 2020, followed by Thailand and Malaysia.

This paper examines solar PV policies in Southeast Asia over a decade, emphasizing their impact on solar PV growth, particularly successful cases like Vietnam's Feed-in-Tariff scheme, and recommends adopting policies such as FiT and Renewable Portfolio Standards to enhance solar energy utilization across ASEAN countries, providing valuable insights for regional policymakers and energy professionals.

The increased use of renewable energy is imperative as a countermeasure to climate change. As with conventional electricity generation technologies, public acceptance of renewables is an important issue, and willingness to pay (WTP) is a widely used indicator to assess such public attitudes. Unfortunately, the literature to date mostly covers developed countries, with few WTP surveys in developing countries. Tackling climate change is an urgent issue for these developing countries; therefore, understanding of public attitudes toward renewables in developing countries is crucial. This study conducted the first survey on WTP for introducing renewable energy in Myanmar. Although Myanmar boasts abundant renewable energy resources, including solar power and biomass in addition to large-scale hydro plants, its resources are not being properly utilized to generate electricity. This study surveyed WTP for power generation by solar photovoltaics, small hydropower, and biomass facilities. The results showed the highest WTP for solar power (USD 1.92) with 10% share in the energy mix, and lower WTP for biomass and small hydropower electricity generations (USD 1.13 and USD 1.17, respectively). Careful public communication is thus crucial for expanding biomass and small-scale hydro power plants.

Southeast Asia faces one of the fastest growths in electricity demand in the world, driven by increasing incomes, urbanization and industrialization. Development and deployment of green energy technologies offer a natural conduit to meet the growing electricity needs of the Association of Southeast Asian Economies (ASEAN) region while also serving as a viable strategy to adapt to climate change. The aim of this study is to formulate the policy lessons for the ASEAN economies and governments in facilitating the development and deployment of green technologies and alternatives energy options based on a specific case review of the ASEAN. The ASEAN economic region is prioritizing sustainable economic growth while minimizing the regional impacts of climate change through decarbonization. The study undertakes a case-specific analysis in reviewing green energy deployment in the context of green growth and energy transition using secondary data sources and discusses the current status and future options of renewable energy development in the ASEAN. We find that carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies will allow the ASEAN to continue to use fossil fuels while achieving sustainable economic growth as coal demand increases in the region. The deployment of CCS technologies will also act as an enabler of hydrogen energy as a green energy solution in the region in the longer term. Boosting public acceptance to nuclear energy, implementing energy efficiency improvement policies and eliminating fossil fuels consumption subsidies are feasible short-term and medium-term policies. Increasing both the public and private sector energy investments and development of CCS technologies in the longer term are necessary complementary policies to maximize the benefits of greater deployment of renewable energy sources in the region and combat climate change.

The global commitment to climate change mitigation enforces the worldwide development of renewable energy sources. Therefore, various studies have investigated the growth of renewable energy in Malaysia, most commonly based on biogas and hydropower. In this article, the dynamics of Malaysia’s renewable energy development is critically examined by using the latest ofcial national reports and other reliable resources.

Energy cooperation plays an important role in One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, which has attracted global attentions since it was firstly announced by China. However, studies focused on China-Myanmar energy cooperation under OBOR has not been explored yet, Myanmar usually acts as a geo-strategic link along OBOR while its power grid construction benefits from OBOR to a large extent. This paper aims to close this gap and provide a comprehensive analysis on China-Myanmar energy cooperation under OBOR. Current status of the two countries’ respective energy systems is investigated to show their motivations for cooperation. Then, SWOT analysis and PEST analysis are integrated to uncover the roots of the past or ongoing successful and unsuccessful energy projects, and to provide invaluable insights about opportunities and challenges caused by the most up-to-date global issues, including COVID-19 and U.S.-China trade war. Lastly, practical suggestions are given with respect to political, economical, social and technological domains, such that stakeholders, engineers, researchers and investors can adapt to the post-crisis era.

There is a key role for taxation in energy and public policy following the 2020 COVID-19 and resulting financial crisis. Taxation was already under the microscope at national, regional and international levels prior to 2020, and the potential for reform may slow down. Developing countries in particular are utilising their tax systems to mitigate the impacts of the 2020 crisis. This article highlights the race to the bottom in terms of taxation as governments seek foreign direct investment (FDI). It also highlights the issues in an influential sector of the economy – that of energy – and the impact on human rights as a result of tax abuse. It is advanced here that a ‘race to the bottom’ in international taxation will result in further erosion of human rights. In thinking of the future and after the 2020 crisis, developing countries need to develop sustainable and resilient economic growth, and consequently they need clear and strategic taxation policy. It can be acknowledged that there is a role for FDI in a crisis-hit economy, but for taxation policy not to have negative consequences more international action is needed in this area. Aggressive tax planning and erosion of the potential to raise tax revenue cannot inhibit the progress made over the last decade on all areas of international taxation.