Is Southeast Asia set for a green energy revolution powered by small solar panels and EVs?

Such sources could eventually account for up to half of the region’s renewable energy output with proper policies in place, Gabrielle Kuiper, a distributed energy resource specialist and guest contributor at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), told This Week in Asia.

DER refers to any small-scale unit of power generation or energy storage technologies, operating either as part of a local distribution network or off-grid. These can range from individual solar panel installations on home rooftops to electric vehicles and battery storage units that feed power back into the grid. DER systems allow for the management of energy at or near the point of use, which energy analysts say increases flexibility and efficiency.

Kuiper said that DER systems could help Southeast Asia unlock billions of dollars worth of renewable energy potential and accelerate the region towards its goal of becoming a clean energy hub.

“An EV is just a battery on wheels. You can have a power point in your car or your truck, and you can plug in whatever, whether it’s a power tool [or something else],” Kuiper said, adding that it is possible to upload or download energy with DER just like data from the internet.

“The really important part of the energy transition is EVs are likely to be the majority of our distributed battery storage going into the future … A lot of car companies in China and South Korea are working on cars that will feed [energy] back into homes or the grid,” she added.

Another benefit of DER systems is that they are more resilient to climate change events, Kuiper noted. She highlighted the example of residents using their homes and EV batteries to help their neighbours during recent bushfires in Australia and