Asean to integrate power supplies to cut costs
Asean energy ministers have agreed during a meeting in Laos this week to integrate Asean energy market including electrical power trading among countries in the region to cut electricity generation costs and boost the global competitiveness of the region.
The agreement was agreed upon during a meeting in Laos' capital of Vientiane. The two-day meeting ends today.
The meeting also issued a joint statement on an electricity trading project between Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The project can turn Thailand into a trading hub for electricity.
Thai Energy Minister Narongchai Akrasanee said the four countries agreed in principle that the project would begin with Laos selling electricity directly to Singapore some 2,000 kilometers distant.
Tentatively Singapore will buy an initial 100 megawatts from Laos. The four countries will form a joint committee to study technical issues and the price for the power trade. Thailand will host a meeting of the committee in November.
"The good thing is that the Asean Power Grid project will begin and progress," the energy minister said.
The meeting also discussed gas pipeline development because there would be transnational gas trade in the future, he said.
