Singapore and Thailand will use consecutive chairmanships of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to tackle regulatory barriers stalling the region’s long-delayed power grid. The push, announced at a Singapore sustainability summit on September 17, targets submarine cable rules and cross-border tariff obstacles ahead of a 2045 target for full regional grid integration.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Singapore chairs ASEAN in 2027, Thailand in 2028, giving the two countries consecutive years to advance the initiative
- The Asean Power Grid aims to connect national electricity systems serving more than 680 million people, with full integration targeted by 2045
- The IEA estimates more than US$300 billion is needed to expand and modernize Southeast Asian electricity grids between 2025 and 2040
- Cross-border interconnectors alone require about US$27 billion by 2040, but only about US$2 billion has been invested in them over five decades
- Asean had 2.8 gigawatts of operational grid-to-grid interconnection capacity in 2024, with 13.7 GW more planned by 2040
- The existing Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project, launched in 2022, has doubled its trading capacity to 200 MW
- The Asean Power Grid Financing Initiative, launched in October 2025, includes a US$2.5 billion World Bank contribution and up to US$10 billion in ADB support over ten years
Singapore’s Transport Minister and Second Minister for Finance Jeffrey Siow said the agreement to jointly push the grid initiative followed recent discussions between the two countries’ leaders. Speaking at the Unlocking Capital for Sustainability summit in Singapore, Siow described cross-border power projects as inherently difficult, saying regulatory alignment, not investor appetite, is the binding constraint.
The proposed grid would link countries with abundant solar, wind and hydropower resources to manufacturing and urban centers facing rising demand, including Vietnam and Thailand. Southeast Asian electricity consumption has grown ninefold since 1990 and is expected to keep expanding by 3 to 4 percent annually through 2040, well above the global average.
Differences in national rules on grid access, transmission tariffs, wheeling charges, export licenses and taxes have made cross-border projects difficult to replicate, since most existing links were financed through bespoke bilateral contracts between state utilities rather than a shared commercial framework. Siow said Singapore’s priorities during its term include advancing the Asean Submarine Power Cable Development Framework, which addresses legal, regulatory and technical arrangements for undersea projects, and resolving bankability issues tied to wheeling charges and export taxes.
Six future submarine interconnections have been identified, four of which would each be longer than the Viking Link between Britain and Denmark, currently the world’s longest operational submarine electricity connection. Prices for transformers and cables have nearly doubled since 2018, and specialist installation vessels are operating near full capacity, raising the risk of delays and cost overruns.
Siow also addressed Singapore’s broader climate strategy, saying the country remains committed to its net zero targets despite global political fragmentation, and pointed to sustainable aviation fuel and a multi-fuel approach for maritime transport as parallel decarbonization tracks.
Publicly available reporting on this specific announcement centers on one detailed account of the summit remarks; broader context on regional grid investment needs is drawn from IEA analysis.