Batteries Are Key To Sustainable Energy in Southeast Asia

Demand for energy in ASEAN has grown by as much as 7.5 per year[1] over the past four decades. Driven primarily by high economic growth and underpinned by increased urbanization and industrialization, this phenomenon has resulted in increased greenhouse-gas emissions. A large proportion -- approximately 60% -- of these emissions have come from fossil-fuel combustion, with ASEAN currently accounting for 3.5% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

This share is expected to increase substantially due to continued population growth and industrial development. To combat this trend and to keep Southeast Asia on the path to becoming a SMART region, sustainable energy sources are increasingly used to produce power for the electric grid. However, intermittent renewable sources – primarily solar and wind – require batteries to store and help distribute power to match supply with demand.

For solar energy systems, power storage in batteries supplements photovoltaic cells during peak demand periods and supplies electricity at night or at other times when sunlight is blocked. Similarly, for wind power, batteries capture and retain excess power when the wind is strong, but when demand is weak, they store the un-utilized energy.

In Southeast Asia, microgrids that use batteries to store the energy generated by renewables, mainly solar and wind, and to distribute electricity during on/off-peak periods are a viable and green alternative to the traditional centralized power grid.

Batteries also play a life-saving role when disaster strikes and the electric supply is disrupted or cut entirely. Hospitals have long backed up their facilities with adequate battery power to provide power to life-sustaining medical equipment in case of power failure.

Demand for energy in ASEAN has grown by as much as 7.5 per year[1] over the past four decades. Driven primarily by high economic growth and underpinned by increased urbanization and industrialization, this phenomenon has resulted in increased greenhouse-gas emissions. A large proportion -- approximately 60% -- of these emissions have come from fossil-fuel combustion, with ASEAN currently accounting for 3.5% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

This share is expected to increase substantially due to continued population growth and industrial development. To combat this trend and to keep Southeast Asia on the path to becoming a SMART region, sustainable energy sources are increasingly used to produce power for the electric grid. However, intermittent renewable sources – primarily solar and wind – require batteries to store and help distribute power to match supply with demand.

For solar energy systems, power storage in batteries supplements photovoltaic cells during peak demand periods and supplies electricity at night or at other times when sunlight is blocked. Similarly, for wind power, batteries capture and retain excess power when the wind is strong, but when demand is weak, they store the un-utilized energy.

In Southeast Asia, microgrids that use batteries to store the energy generated by renewables, mainly solar and wind, and to distribute electricity during on/off-peak periods are a viable and green alternative to the traditional centralized power grid.

Batteries also play a life-saving role when disaster strikes and the electric supply is disrupted or cut entirely. Hospitals have long backed up their facilities with adequate battery power to provide power to life-sustaining medical equipment in case of power failure.

[1]Ertugrul Yildirim & Alper Aslan & Ilhan Ozturk, 2014. "Energy Consumption And GDP In ASEAN Countries: Bootstrap-Corrected Panel And Time Series Causality Tests," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 59(02), pages 1-16. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263474331_Energy_consumption_and_GDP_in_ASEAN_countries_Bootstrap-corrected_panel_and_time_series_causality_tests