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ASEAN Energy Senior Officials Endorse 2026 Priorities; Philippines to Drive Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid Implementation
Date published: Jan 21 2026 02:00 PM
MEDIA RELEASE
21 January 2026
ASEAN Energy Senior Officials Endorse 2026 Priorities;
Philippines to Drive Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid Implementation
Bohol, Philippines — ASEAN Senior Officials on Energy (SOE) endorsed ASEAN’s Annual Energy Priorities, including the Philippines’ Priority Economic Deliverables for its ASEAN Chairmanship, during the ASEAN Special Senior Officials’ Meeting on Energy (Special SOME) held in Bohol on 20–21 January 2026.
At the meeting’s conclusion, Philippine Chair and SOE Leader Undersecretary Felix William “Wimpy” B. Fuentebella said the Philippines will work with ASEAN partners to implement the Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid (APG) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during the 43rd ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) in Malaysia in October 2025. The Enhanced APG MoU seeks to strengthen regional connectivity by advancing multilateral power trade, enabling greater renewable energy integration, and attracting investment into 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.
Apart from operationalizing the Enhanced APG MoU, the Philippines will also work with ASEAN and development partners to advance ASEAN’s Annual Energy Priorities, which comprise seven work programmes:
- Publication of the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook;
- Completion of the ASEAN Nuclear Power Plant Financing and Human Resources Development Study, which will provide a structured regional reference for the safe, secure, and responsible consideration of nuclear power in ASEAN;
- Completion of the ASEAN Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Assessment and Business Model Study;
- Completion of the Upstream Oil and Gas Fiscal Benchmarking Study to enhance the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of ASEAN upstream fiscal regimes;
- Launching of the Sustainable ASEAN Energy Management Certification Scheme (SAEMAS) to strengthen regional capacity, standards, and best practices in sustainable energy management;
- Completion of the Study on Accelerating Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Advanced Technologies for Renewable Energy (RE) Integration to support the reliable and scalable integration of variable renewable energy into ASEAN power systems; and
- Completion of the Study on a Cross-border Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Market and Financial Assessment to assess feasibility, market potential, and financial viability in support of regional renewable energy deployment and power trade.
These work programmes will be advanced by the relevant ASEAN Sub-Sector Networks toward key milestones at the regular SOME in June 2026, and endorsement to 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, provide 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.” ###