IMPACT Webinar:
- The Possibility of Green Hydrogen Economy in the ASEAN’s Power & Utility Sector
[IMPACT Webinar] The Possibility of Green Hydrogen Economy in the ASEAN’s Power & Utility Sector
Time & Date: 14:30 – 16:10 GMT+8, September 13, Tuesday
Format: Digital Conference
“Hydrogen is a compromise solution for the renewable energy industry and the gas industry. It opens an interesting transition pathway for today’s oil and gas exporting countries, and falling renewable electricity cost makes green hydrogen a feasible solution.”
Dr. Roland Roesch, Deputy Director Innovation and Technology Center, IRENA
While the economic and population growth is expected to result in a 2.5-fold increase in energy demand by 2050 in ASEAN, to date the Southeast Asian coalition still depends heavily on fossil fuels, as around 86% of primary energy demand in 2021. Under the goal to help decarbonize the ASEAN power and energy sector, IMPACT organizes the webinar to discuss the potential of investing in green hydrogen as ASEAN’s future energy carrier, and underlying key issues such as prices, technology, supply, safety, and governmental policymaking.
Outlook of the Green Hydrogen Potential in ASEAN Power Sectors
The ASEAN region over the next three decades will see total energy consumption almost triple, electricity demands increase five-fold, and energy GHG emission double; all while a rising dependency on imports. In this context, green hydrogen and associated derivates emerge as a key vector to invest and realize the regional’s net-zero pledge. (Dr. Roland Roesch, IRENA)
Key Applications in Power Sector
Amongst ASEAN nations, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand are the four pioneering countries in adding hydrogen as fuel use in the power sector, prioritizing four sub-fields: (Mr. Joo Yeow Lee, S&P Global)
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Co-firing with biomass (5% blend successfully tested)
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Carbon Capture & Storage (~4% of CCS)
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Hydrogen as a fuel (20% blended successfully tested)
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Ammonia as a fuel (20% blended successfully tested)
Main Players Processing the Hydrogen Transformation
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Indonesia can be the main player in ASEAN Hydrogen Future. The size of the market, the completeness of the value chain, and the types of major players will be the main considerations. (Mr. Teguh Widhi Harsono, PLN)
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Hydrogen not only decarbonizes the power assets but prolongs the use of assets. (Mr. Sidhartha Basu, JERA Asia)
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For ASEAN, the development should focus primarily on meeting domestic demand first, decarbonizing, and then maybe exporting. (Mr. Sunil Gupta, Vena Energy)
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Ammonia is a good alternative to current production and transport, but ASEAN needed to establish a robust hydrogen transport network and cross-border cooperation. (Mr. Narsingh Chaudhary from Black & Veatch)
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In the context of the financing assessment, support in terms of subsidiaries and revenues, standardization of frameworks, harmonization of regulatory regimes, and improvement of liquidity is of top priority. (Ms. Ayako Kageyama, MUFG)
Rethinking H2: Prerequisites for the Establishment of a Positive Green Hydrogen Ecosystem
According to Mr. Stephen Peters, Asian Development Bank, the primary concern is to create a buyer's market for green hydrogen. At the same time, the design of large-scale point-to-point infrastructures is very important. He proposes the concept of a hydrogen ecosystem that takes advantage of the flexibility of hydrogen to create more possible business models, allowing more different types of players to join. Specific to the Southeast Asia region, distributed hydrogen solutions serving underdeveloped communities could emerge as a cheaper fuel than fossil fuels that are shipped to remote locations.
Timeline for Getting Ready to the Power and Utility Sector to Embrace Green Hydrogen
Panelists are all confident to start this enormous project in ASEAN’s investment climate. Most of the panelists think projects can commence in 5 years, except for Mr. Narsingh Chaudhary. He thinks this can be done within 3-5 years, but hard to judge whether Green Hydrogen can be successfully commercialized during this period due to cost, innovation, market uncertainty, and state-oriented regulation and policy-making. The faster decarbonization countries will be Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, but Vietnam has the most potential for green hydrogen production, while Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have some potential. Singapore will be a transit point for hydrogen energy.
Presenters:
Dr. Roland Roesch
Deputy Director Innovation and Technology Center
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Mr. Joo Yeow Lee
Associate Director (Power and Renewables)
Southeast Asia, S&P Global
Mr. Stephen Peters
Senior Energy Specialist
ADB
Ms. Ayako Kageyama
Head of Sustainable Finance Strategy & Transactions,APAC
MUFG
Mr. Teguh Widhi Harsono
Executive Vice President of Corporate Finance
PT PLN (Persero)
Mr. Sidhartha Basu
Strategy Officer
JERA
Mr. Sunil Gupta
Head, Southeast Asia and South Asia
Vena Energy
