Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Electricity Journal journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tej Achieving renewable energies utilization target in South-East Asia: Progress, challenges, and recommendations Marissa Malahayati National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0053, Japan ARTICLE INFO Keywords: ASEAN Renewable energies Primary energy Power generation ABSTRACT The South-East Asian countries together have a target to increase the component of renewable energy in their primary energy supply to 23 % by 2025. However, there is a different starting point for the individual country members based on their natural conditions and specific political and regulatory frameworks. The Association of South-East Asia Nations (ASEAN), as the regional-cooperation organization, does not have the authority to in- tervene in the countries’ national policy for renewable energy. It can only provide inputs to develop renewable energy. However, that can also be challenging because it does not have a portal to access each member’s de- velopment of renewable energy utilization. This study aims to observe each ASEAN member’s progress by analyzing historical data. This study also reviews some academic papers to summarize the challenges and ob- stacles faced by each country. The result suggests that regionally, ASEAN members still rely highly on fossil fuels, especially the total primary supply. Moreover, the share of traditional biomass is also very high. Although, data shows that its use has started to reduce as countries gradually shift to other energy options, unfortunately, mostly to fossil fuel. However, power generation has developed in a positive direction. Historical data shows an increase in renewable energy use for power generation, mainly due to the higher utilization of hydropower. Furthermore, it is strongly recommended for ASEAN to build a monitoring portal of renewable energy to track the progress, so it can provide more precise policy recommendations to its members and establish better energy cooperation between each member in the future. 1. Introduction Ten ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Member States (AMS) are projected to be a hub of the global renewable energy (RE) market in the future (Hayes and Parker, 2018) due to the abundant natural resources of each country in the region (Frost and Sullivan, 2019). For example, Indonesia and Philippines are among the world’s largest holders of geothermal reserves. Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Myanmar are blessed by abundant river resources that can be utilized as RE sources to fuel the country. However, there is an impression that the AMS neglect their RE resources. Meanwhile, other countries such as China and India are outstripping the AMS on renewables (Maslog, 2018). Realizing the trend, the AMS has then set several important agendas stated on the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC). One highlighted point on the APAEC is to achieve 23 % of RE shares in the primary energy mix by 2025 along with the target of realization of ASEAN power grid and reduction in the energy intensity by 20 % in 2020 compared to the 2005 level (ASEAN Centre for Energy, 2015). This cooperation was initially meant to lower capital expenditure, especially electricity prices, and enhance energy security in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, this is also to promote the competitiveness of the region in the RE business constellation. However, the commitment itself is not binding and made by con- sensus. It becomes each AMS’s national responsibility to adjust their national energy mixes. As the regional organization, ASEAN cannot interfere with any political, legal, or institutional force in the affairs of the AMS. In this manner, each AMS has the flexibility to design their energy policy and choose the level of cooperation regarding the energy with other ASEAN countries (ASEAN Centre for Energy, 2018). How- ever, this method has several flaws including a lack of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to check whether the target is already on the track or not. This study aims to track the progress of RE utilization in Southeast Asia by analyzing the historical data of RE both in the Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) and power generation. The progress of the region is also tracked by utilizing a further literature review. Ultimately, the study attempted to find out the main challenges faced by each AMS and propose several policy recommendations that might be useful to utilize. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2020.106736 E-mail address: marissa.malahayati@nies.go.jp. The Electricity Journal 33 (2020) 106736 1040-6190/ © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T