To meet Asia’s growth ambitions, investment across both fossil fuel and renewable energy systems will be necessary. In his opening remarks to the Energy Asia conference in June 2025, Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO of PETRONAS, the Malaysian global energy company, said: “Parts of Asia enjoy abundant solar irradiance. Here, we see long coastlines and annual monsoon winds, which present vast and untapped renewables potential.” The industry association SolarPower Europe says that APAC was responsible for 70 per cent of new solar capacity in 2024. The Global Wind Energy Council reports a similar growth outlook for wind; in November 2024, it forecast that 61 per cent of new investment worldwide between 2024 and 2030 would be in APAC.
Another, often overlooked, form of renewable energy with the potential to change the region’s energy mix is geothermal. Indonesia is estimated to sit atop around 40 per cent of the world’s geothermal capacity, owing to its volcanic and seismic activity. So far, it has struggled to attract the investment necessary to capitalise on this opportunity. Should it be able to meet the three needs – stable policies, capital deployment and cooperation – it could help to power not only itself, but also neighbouring countries, if and when the ASEAN Power Grid – an ongoing project to connect the electricity grids of the 10 ASEAN members – becomes operational.