Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship for 2025 successfully drew to a close at the recent 47th ASEAN Summit, concluding a strong year of dialogue, cooperation and partnership . Hosting over 300 meetings throughout its tenure, the nation demonstrated its commitment to ASEAN’s future under the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability”.
Energy cooperation was among the areas placed high on Malaysia’s regional agenda, with a renewed push to move decisively on the long-anticipated ASEAN Power Grid (APG). Under Malaysia’s steady leadership, the region is now mobilising large investments to expand cross-border interconnections, improve grid stability and integrate renewables.
As Malaysia leads ASEAN into a new era of energy resilience, the continued development of the APG will set the stage for a more secure and cooperative regional energy system. In turn, this promises to unlock long-term benefits for both industry and the people, ranging from improved power reliability, competitive prices, to greater access to clean energy.
Integrating ASEAN’s grids to power a sustainable future
Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for electricity demand
Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for electricity demand, rising over 7% in 2024, nearly double the global average and set to double again by 2050 . What’s more, many ASEAN countries depend heavily on imported fossil fuels, which further exposes the region to risks including fuel price volatility and supply disruptions.
To this end, the APG was first conceptualised in the late 1990s through the ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) as a long-term strategy for regional power security. The APG aims to interconnect the electricity grids of ASEAN nations to meet growing electricity demand, strengthen energy security and integrate cleaner power sources.
Having been on the drawing board since 1997, this vision finally started taking shape over 20 years later when the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia Power Integration Project (LTM-PIP) took off in 2018. Singapore entered the play in 2022, after which this leg of the APG became known as Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore – Power Interconnection Project (LTMS-PIP), that is often described as a “pathfinder” for multilateral power trading within ASEAN.
In recent years, ASEAN has made notable progress with 9 of the 18 priority interconnections now operational, providing around 7.7GW of cross-border capacity . That said, the current interconnections capacity will need to be more than doubled by 2040 to allow for more energy cooperation supporting regional growth and welfare.
While strong partnerships are already in place, achieving a fully integrated grid across ASEAN will require unprecedented financing as well as more harmonised regulatory frameworks. This is where Malaysia’s leadership in 2025 became pivotal, helping to shift the APG from vision to coordinated regional action.
Leading the way from vision to implementation
Malaysia’s Chairmanship year brought meaningful progress for the APG, including with the successful endorsement of the Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid (APG) MoU. The enhanced MoU strengthens policy alignment and provides a more robust framework for grid integration, technical cooperation, and multilateral power trade.
This includes clearer principles for grid planning, system operations, data sharing and investment coordination, all of which are critical for accelerating implementation. Malaysia also oversaw the finalisation of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2026–2030 , reaffirming the shared vision and commitment towards regional connectivity.
APAEC Phase IV sets a stronger mandate for APG expansion by embedding specific targets for cross-border interconnections, renewables integration, and grid flexibility. Importantly, APAEC 2026–2030 introduces expanded focus areas such as digital power systems, resiliency planning, and large-scale renewable integration across borders.
Another key milestone was the launch of the APG Financing Initiative (APGF) with support from global partners including the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank. Achieving the APG vision by 2045 will require an estimated USD 800 billion in generation and transmission investments.
The APGF unites governments, utilities, development partners, and investors to bridge this financing gap and turning interconnection projects ‘from concept to construction’. Together, these milestones laid stronger political, regulatory and financial foundations for ASEAN’s next decade of regional power cooperation.
Futureproofing Malaysia’s grid for APG expansion
The APG’s next phase will involve expanding new power corridors that can connect the region more efficiently and support future renewables growth. To this end, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is modernising Malaysia’s transmission system to handle bidirectional flows, higher interconnection capacities, as well as variable RE imports and exports.
TNB’s ongoing collaborations with neighbouring utilities, ranging from system planning to joint technical studies are crucial for ensuring synchronisation, reliability and commercial readiness across borders. There are already several projects in the pipeline with a combined capacity of over 6,000MW of renewable energy to be transmitted through Malaysia.
Building on the LTMS-PIP’s success, the upcoming Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines Power Integration Project (BIMP-PIP) is expected to add another 100MW in initial capacity. BIMP-PIP will enable the exchange of renewable power, particularly hydro and solar across East Malaysia, Kalimantan in Indonesia, and eventually Mindanao in the Philippines.
In parallel, the planned Vietnam–Malaysia–Singapore (VMS) interconnection could unlock large-scale offshore wind from Vietnam for regional consumption. The VMS concept is still undergoing feasibility studies, but early assessments point to its potential as a transformative cross-ASEAN renewable energy corridor.
As new APG corridors take shape, ASEAN’s collective push to strengthen regional energy connectivity will play a pivotal role in supporting greater interconnections and renewable energy exchanges, building a more resilient and secure energy system for all. Ensuring grid readiness across member states will be essential for the APG to deliver lasting value throughout the region.
Building collective energy resilience for ASEAN
With ASEAN’s energy demand rising rapidly, greater regional power connectivity has become one of the region’s most important long-term strategies for shared security, sustainability, and economic growth. Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship has strengthened this collective vision, helping lay the policy, regulatory and financial groundwork needed for deeper interconnection and clean energy flows across the region.
But delivering a fully interconnected regional grid will require deep collaboration between governments, utilities, investors and technology partners. Public–private cooperation supported by clear policies, smart financing and strong technical leadership from utilities like TNB is critical to turning regional ambitions such as the APG intro practical progress.
As the region advances into its next phase of cooperation, the foundations laid under Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship will play a defining role in shaping the security and sustainability of ASEAN’s energy landscape for decades to come. With continued commitment and aligned regional leadership, ASEAN is well-positioned to advance itself as the world’s leading energy hub through its most transformative collective energy initiatives.