Secure and reliable electricity infrastructure is vital to support the regional economic growth and integration process. Southeast Asia countries in particular are forecasted to have high rise of demand in the power sector; is expected to tripling from 789TWh in 2013 to about 2,200TWh in 2040 which doubles the current capacity. To materialise this, calls for investments of USD 618 billion in generation and USD 690 billion in the transmission and distribution of power is needed.

The hosting of Asean Power Grid Summit 2018 (APGS 2018) with its overarching theme, ‘Enhancing APG Investment towards Regional Energy Optimisation’ is timely in addressing pertinent and relevant issues in foregrounding the potentials of power sector of ASEAN countries and attracting more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into ensuring the success of meeting the rising energy demand and translating that into successful connections of power grids in ASEAN member states.