Asean energy officials back 2026 priorities, APG rollout

Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Senior Officials on Energy endorsed the bloc’s Annual Energy Priorities, including the Philippines’ Priority Economic Deliverables for its ASEAN chairmanship, during the ASEAN Special Senior Officials’ Meeting on Energy held in Bohol on Jan. 20–21, 2026.

The meeting brought together energy officials from across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to align regional energy cooperation priorities for 2026, with a focus on connectivity, sustainability, and investment readiness.

At the close of the meeting, the  Philippine chair and senior official on energy, Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella, said the Philippines will work closely with ASEAN partners to implement the Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid (APG) Memorandum of Understanding signed during the 43rd ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM).

The Enhanced APG MoU was signed at the last AMEM held in Malaysia in October 2025 and aims to strengthen regional connectivity through multilateral power trade, deeper renewable energy integration, and increased investment in the energy sector.

“With the Enhanced APG MoU, our focus now is execution, turning regional commitment into clear, workable arrangements that ASEAN can implement. This includes operationalizing dedicated Task Forces on Policy, Legal and Regulatory, and Technical, so we can move in a coordinated and timebound manner,” Fuentebella said.

He added that the Philippines will develop comprehensive operational guidelines for the Submarine Power Cable Framework, covering legal and regulatory, technical, financial and commercial, and governance components to help create an investment-ready environment for cross-border connectivity, multilateral power trade, and renewable energy integration.

Beyond the Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid, the Philippines will also collaborate with ASEAN member states and development partners to advance the bloc’s Annual Energy Priorities through seven regional work programs.

These include the publication of the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook to guide long-term energy planning and the completion of the ASEAN Nuclear Power Plant Financing and Human Resources Development Study, which will serve as a regional reference for the safe, secure, and responsible consideration of nuclear power.

Other endorsed work programs cover the completion of the ASEAN Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Assessment and Business Model Study, as well as the Upstream Oil and Gas Fiscal Benchmarking Study, aimed at improving the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of ASEAN upstream fiscal regimes.

The priorities also include the launch of the Sustainable ASEAN Energy Management Certification Scheme to strengthen regional capacity, standards, and best practices in sustainable energy management.

In addition, ASEAN will complete a study on accelerating Battery Energy Storage Systems and advanced technologies for renewable energy integration to support the reliable and scalable deployment of variable renewable energy across regional power systems.

Another key deliverable is the completion of a study on a cross-border Renewable Energy Certificate market and financial assessment to evaluate feasibility, market potential, and financial viability in support of regional renewable energy deployment and power trade.

These work programs will be advanced by the relevant ASEAN sub-sector networks toward key milestones at the regular Senior Officials’ Meeting on Energy in June 2026 and are expected to be endorsed by ASEAN energy ministers at the AMEM in September 2026.

“Our priority is to make regional initiatives meaningful at the ground level, supporting energy access, protecting consumers from volatility, providing job generation, and strengthening system reliability,” Fuentebella said.

“As we move toward June and AMEM, we will keep the work focused on outputs that can be implemented and measured, not just discussed,” he added.