Center to study Inter-ASEAN electrical grid

Center to study Inter-ASEAN electrical grid

MANILA (AFP): Plans for an electrical grid and a natural gas
pipeline connecting member countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be investigated by ASEAN
officials, it was announced here yesterday.

The plans for the gas pipeline will be coordinated by an ASEAN
Energy Center that is due to be created in a year while the grid
interconnection will be taken up by the heads of each country's
power utilities firm.

The plans were discussed at a conference of energy ministers
of ASEAN countries that was held here this week, Philippine
Energy Secretary Francisco Viray said in a news conference.

Viray said the ASEAN grid interconnection project would
involve integrating several sub-regional interconnection projects
that are already being implemented.

This includes an interconnection project covering Thailand,
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, another project involving Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines and two other
projects linking Indonesia and Malaysia to Thailand and
Singapore.

Viray said that Australia was providing aid for a feasibility
study on the grid interconnection to be carried out this year.

The 11-billion-dollar natural gas pipeline in turn is
envisioned as linking the gas fields in Brunei, Malaysia,
Thailand and the Philippines to provide natural gas to these
countries as well as Singapore.

Philippine assistant energy secretary Guillermo Balce said the
ASEAN Energy Center would be created from an existing ASEAN-
European Union (EU) energy research center in Jakarta, to
coordinate this project as well as other ASEAN energy programs.

Philippine President Fidel Ramos earlier said the pipeline
would be 8,000 kilometers (4,960 miles) long. Construction of the
project, first proposed in 1995, is expected to last beyond 2020.

Viray however said that the implementation of the projects
would be "dictated by market forces," adding that "I don't think
we can force these two projects" using state funds.

He said there was still no consensus on how involved the ASEAN
governments would be in the planning of the projects but admitted
that they would have to attract private investment to carry them
out.

He said the two proposed projects were presented to the
private sector for possible investment during an ASEAN forum in
Kuala Lumpur last month.

At the conference, Ramos urged ASEAN countries to mobilize
private sector funding for energy projects.

He noted that the Philippines has successfully ended a serious
power-shortage from 1992 to 1993 by tapping private firms to set
up power plants.

The Philippine example "could be of some value to our
neighbors from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar who are today
addressing their energy needs in their own quest for
modernization," Ramos said.

Viray noted that Burma. Cambodia and Laos, which are due to
join ASEAN next month, were taking part in the ASEAN energy
conference as observers.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia, Laos and Burma are to
join later this month.