’ push to establish a cross-border grid with
marks an increasing urgency to secure energy security amid soaring electricity costs and another step towards a long-delayed regional power network.
While analysts hail the move as a crucial step to address domestic energy woes and unlock potential interests between neighbours, they also point to geographical and supply-chain challenges.
The Philippines’ Department of Energy last month said that efforts were under way to establish links with Jakarta under the broader Asean Power Grid initiative, which aims to connect the power networks of
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
members and strengthen energy cooperation by 2045.
Such plans, which could see power links from Indonesia being routed through southern Philippines, would require close coordination, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said – “either bilaterally with Indonesia or through a multilateral Asean forum”.
Manila, as this year’s Asean chair, has been at the forefront of advancing the enhanced programme amid rising electricity demand across the region.
A technician cleans solar panels at Jatijajar bus station in Depok, Indonesia, on April 16, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE
At this week’s Asean Foreign Ministerial Meetings, officials released a joint statement voicing grave concern over renewed tensions between the United States and Iran and called for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.