Asean advances regional power grid through UK, France and EU study visit

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ASEAN power grid study visit

Highlights

ASEAN officials, regulators, and utilities completed a study visit to the UK and France to exchange knowledge on regional electricity connectivity and ASEAN Power Grid implementation.
Delegates explored European governance, regulatory frameworks, and high-voltage infrastructure, aiming to adapt interconnection project lessons to ASEAN's energy security and decarbonisation strategy.
Financing cross-border transmission remains challenging, with participants emphasizing the need for improved project preparation, regulatory certainty, and investment conditions to replicate European integration successes.

Regional connectivity programme and partners

As reported by GOV.UK, senior officials, regulators and utility representatives from ASEAN member states have concluded a study visit designed to support knowledge exchange on regional electricity connectivity and the implementation of the ASEAN Power Grid.

The programme brings together delegates from ASEAN member states, the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Centre for Energy and the APG Consultative Committee. It is organised by the ASEAN Centre for Energy, the French government through Agence Française de Développement, and the UK government, in partnership with the European Union.

During the visit, participants engage with regulators, system operators, financiers and industry representatives involved in planning, developing and operating interconnection systems. Discussions cover governance arrangements, regulatory frameworks, project development, cross-border coordination and approaches to financing large-scale transmission infrastructure.

Delegates also visit energy infrastructure in France and the UK, including Nexans high-voltage facilities in Calais and the IFA2 Converter Station in Hampshire. The exchanges are intended to give ASEAN officials practical insight into the opportunities and constraints involved in building regional electricity interconnectors.

Financing and energy transition implications

Officials and partner institutions present the ASEAN Power Grid as a central part of the region's longer-term energy security and decarbonisation strategy. UK Ambassador to ASEAN Helen Fazey says the initiative requires not only infrastructure, but also trusted institutions and cooperation across governments, regulators, utilities and industry.

ASEAN Centre for Energy Executive Director Dato Razib Dawood says the grid can help unlock renewable resources and strengthen shared energy security, while drawing on lessons from European interconnection projects. French Ambassador to ASEAN Fabien Penone and AFD executive Cyrille Bellier also frame the programme as a strategic effort tied to industrial competitiveness, clean energy access and regional integration.

Financing remains a central issue because cross-border transmission projects are costly, politically complex and typically generate returns over the long term. Participants discuss conditions needed to attract sustained infrastructure investment, including stronger project preparation, regulatory certainty, risk allocation and workable coordination mechanisms between countries.

The programme also underlines the role of utilities, development partners, investors and industrial groups in turning regional plans into operating assets. For ASEAN, the experience of France, the UK and the EU is being used to inform an approach that fits the bloc's own institutions, priorities and market conditions.

Our earlier article on Malaysia’s data centre utility-demand assessment described how authorities and the Energy Commission are checking whether operators’ requested electricity and water capacity matches actual usage, amid concern over supply constraints. We also noted that continued investment interest—especially in southern Peninsular Malaysia—could push operators toward self-supply options such as solar or battery storage, highlighting how large new loads intensify the need for reliable power planning and infrastructure.

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