Emerging Energy Sources for Asia. Draft Report to Asian Development Bank

Michael M.D. Ross
RER Renewable Energy Research

Acknowledgements:

This draft report was prepared for the Asian Development Bank as a background document for their 2013 Asian Development Outlook. An abridged version of the report is published in Lee et al., eds., Asia's Energy Challenge: Key Issues and Policy Options. Routledge, 2014.

Citation:

Ross, Michael M. D. Emerging Energy Sources for Asia. Draft Report to the Asian Development Bank. Montréal, Qc.: RER Energy Inc, 2013.

Summary:

With the existing energy supply and energy security situation of the ADB member countries having been explored in other background chapters, this chapter turns to the prospects of new and emerging energy sources in the developing countries of Asia. The emerging energy sources examined in this chapter shale gas, solar (photovoltaics and concentrating solar power), wind, geothermal, landfill gas, tidal, gas hydrates, and clean coal. Shale gas, photovoltaics, and wind, are given more attention than the others, which are dealt with in an appendix.

Each energy source is introduced in terms of its salient technical characteristics, its current market situation, and general prospects for market growth. Then it examines these energy sources from the perspective of energy security for Asian countries into the middle of the 21st century:

• Extent to which they can displace imports of conventional fuels (e.g., growth on a regional or national basis)
• Indigenous supply of resource and equipment on a national or regional basis, and implications for countries and regions as energy/equipment importers and exporters
• Sustainability, particularly in terms of greenhouse gas emissions
• Ease or difficulty of integrating the emerging source into the energy system
• Potential regulation relating to other environmental or health concerns (e.g., questions about the impact of fracking on seismic activity and groundwater)
• Financing requirements

Created 2014/02/27   Updated 2014/02/27     ©2005-2014 RER Energy Inc.