In the global trend towards decarbonisation of the economy, major multinational corporations are strongly aiming to decarbonise their own supply chains. As a result, demand for locally produced renewable energy and carbon-free fuels is increasingly rising for manufacturing enterprises operating in Southeast Asia. However, Southeast Asian countries are generally lagging behind in deploying wind and solar PV generation, which have been leading renewable energy resources in other regions.

Under these circumstances, it is crucially important to consider the effective utilisation of potentially abundant bioenergy resources in Southeast Asia. Bioenergy is inherently a non-intermittent energy source, which could play a critical role in providing the flexibility required by power grids to accommodate increased shares of VRE, namely wind and solar PV.

On the other hand, bioenergy resources are substantially diverse, thus requiring different approaches for their effective utilisation. There are various barriers such as securing land for cultivation and appropriate cooperation/collaboration among stakeholders, and in some cases, huge investments are required. Therefore, it is essential to collect and analyse bioenergy-related information to evaluate the actual situation and potential of bioenergy use in Southeast Asia.

The Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) has conducted a research project titled 'Development of Bioenergy Supply Chain in the AZEC partner countries' over the past months based on a commission contract with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), focusing on three countries: Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The objectives of the research are: firstly, to create an overall mapping of bioenergy supply/demand in the countries concerned in the region, presenting an overall picture of resource availability, commercial production, cost, existing supply chains, and advantages to identify focused areas for further promotion of bioenergy use in view of forming bioenergy supply chains in these countries; secondly, based on the outcome of the first objective, to consider feasible approaches to develop bioenergy supply chains for the effective utilisation of bioenergy in the region.

In this workshop, experts from across government, industry, academia, and regulators will be brought together to discuss how to develop bioenergy supply chains in AZEC partner countries based on the outcome of the research by IEEJ and the feedback comments from the bioenergy experts selected from Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam respectively. The discussion aims to identify the appropriate policies, regulations, markets, technologies, and business models that will help enable the development of bioenergy supply chains in the countries concerned.

Programme and Agenda

Workshop on Development of Bioenergy Supply Chain (ONLINE)