Southeast Asia : renewable energy investment strategies

摘要

Because of the growing population and dispersion of wealth in Southeast Asia, the demand for energy is increasing, as well as a dependency on oil and coal imports. Southeast Asia consists often countries: Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. This paper proposes solutions to decrease the dependency on energy imports in Southeast Asia through renewable energy development. In general, the energy market is extremely competitive. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, tides, and biofuels, are still developing and currently more expensive than fossil fuels, creating a competitive disadvantage for renewable energy producers. In Southeast Asia, potential projects face not only competition, but also a lack of universal electric grid infrastructure, no comprehensive transmission system, and in some countries, no extensively developed transportation system. A significant capital investment is required to establish, complete, and maintain renewable energy projects. This paper focuses on developing strategies to promote both foreign and domestic investments with the goal of creating an environment suitable for renewable energy market growth in Southeast Asia. The strategies will be developed through analyzing government structure and policy, current economic and energy market conditions, renewable energy resource potential, and market barriers in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These three countries have a population growth greater than the global average and a variety of infrastructure development levels, making strategies applicable to a wide range of countries and encouraging a positive economic impact across the entire region of Southeast Asia. Only through evaluating each of these aspects will effective strategies be developed and implemented for the creation of a better investor environment and economic growth for the entirety of Southeast Asia.