Solarplaza, a private company based in Rotterdam ,The Netherlands) that aims to inspire, connect and activate the global solar PV industry, has compiled an overview of the top 25 solar PV plants in Southeast Asia with the purpose of showing the market potential of solar power in the developing region, but therefore excluding the more advanced and developed solar markets in China, India and Japan.
This list of solar PV plants comes in preparation for their two-day conference, Unlocking Solar Capital Asia & Financial Summit, set to be held in Singapore on the 1st and 2nd of November, 2018.
In Southeast Asia, most of the countries are experiencing rapid economic growth, but not without challenges.
The region’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached US$2.5 trillion in 2016 and is currently growing more than 4% per year.
Its population of 644 million people (as of mid-2017) accounts for 8.5 % of the global total and its expected to grow to 722 million by 2030 and 789 million by 2050.
Southeast Asia is not only one of the fastest-growing consumer markets in the world, but it also has become a major manufacturing and trading hub. With a fast-growing population, the region faces a range of demographic, social and energy challenges.
Herewith is the full list:
Overall, the Southeast Asia region has seen some impressive growth in a short amount of time. When it come to Thailand, the country was able to rank 729 MW out of 2697 MW in our top 25 list, meaning that most of the installed PV capacity comes from solar installations below 8 MW.
Philippines, on the other hand, was able to rank 625 MW out of 903 MW, reflecting a higher proportion of solar projects above 8 MW, compared to Thailand.
Malaysia only ranked 19 MW out of 362 MW in our top 25. This was the result of the Malaysian government’s plan to limit project capacity to between 1 and 30 MW to incline bidders to apply for large-scale projects.
Last but not least, Cambodia ranked 10 MW out of 27 MW mainly due to the fact that the country does not have a FiT scheme in place and the lack of fiscal incentives towards solar.
The future of the region will depend on a couple of factors: the decreasing price of solar modules, the increasing demand for solar-plus-storage and the future balance-of-system cost reductions. Several Southeast Asian nations are gearing up for increased solar investment as a result of these factors, with each country taking its own unique path.
It will be interesting to see how the region develops in the coming years, especially with all of the massive plans in the pipeline.
Regardless of all the risks and challenges, one thing is certain. The whole world will be watching closely to see how one the fastest growing regions in the world will satisfy its rapidly growing energy needs by transitioning towards renewable energy sources.
Source : Solar Plaza Official Website
