Thailand’s Energy Minister Anantaporn Kanjanarat joined the 34th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meetings (34th AMEM) held in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, from September 21-22.
The 34th AMEM meeting was held under the topic “Towards Greener Community with Cleaner Energy” with a common aim at driving ASEAN into a clean and environmentally-friendly energy community.
A directive agreed upon by the 10 ASEAN energy ministers focused on the gearing up the development of renewable energy and the implementation under the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2010-2015, which aims at developing clean energy, including the use of clean coal technology as well as cooperation in infrastructural integration and marketing for renewable energy resources within the region.
The member states have targeted to achieve a 20% reduction in energy intensity by 2020 and a 23%increase in the use of renewable energy sources by 2025.
ASEAN has also targeted to connect physical gas pipelines (a total distance of 3,673 kilometers) under bilateral cooperation between six member countries and open six re-gasification stations.
In addition, ASEAN plans to implement eight projects with a combined electrical generating capacity of more than 1,700 MW.