The 32nd ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) agreed to integrate the 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 resulted from the AMEM held at the Don Chan Palace Hotel in Vientiane last week.
AMEM 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.
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 AMEM also discussed gas pipeline development because there would be transnational gas trade in the future, he said.
