Renewables & New Energy Programme

The Asia-Pacific region is rapidly emerging as a critical growth market for offshore wind, with unique opportunities and challenges shaped by diverse policy landscapes, varying market maturity, and differing levels of technological advancement. This panel will explore the strategies and solutions needed to accelerate offshore wind deployment across the region.

Key topics include:

• Policy and Regulatory Frameworks: Navigating evolving government policies, incentives, and permitting processes that impact project development.

• Financing and Investment: Innovative funding models, risk mitigation approaches, and partnerships to unlock capital for large-scale projects.

• Supply Chain and Localisation: Building resilient regional supply chains, supporting local manufacturing, and developing workforce capabilities.

• Technological Adaptation: Addressing technical challenges such as low wind-speed sites, deep-water installations, and grid integration in diverse geographies.

• Lessons from Global Projects: Insights from mature markets adapted to Asia-Pacific conditions, including best practices in project planning, operations, and cost reduction.

• Collaboration and Regional Cooperation: Opportunities for cross-border collaboration, knowledge sharing, and standardisation to accelerate deployment.

Panelists will share practical insights on overcoming barriers, fostering investment, and advancing offshore wind as a key driver of sustainable energy growth in Asia-Pacific.

As Asia Pacific increases renewable deployment, the ability to store, transport, and deliver energy efficiently is becoming a key enabler for reliable and scalable clean power. Energy storage and low-carbon transport systems provide the flexibility and resilience needed to integrate diverse energy sources across grids, industries, and maritime sectors.

This session will examine the evolving roles of advanced battery technologies and electrified transport solutions. Large-scale storage systems are stabilising national grids and supporting remote or offshore operations, while next-generation batteries are extending reliability and lifespan. In parallel, e-vessels are reshaping shipping and offshore logistics, reducing emissions and improving operational efficiency in a sector traditionally difficult to decarbonise.

Panelists will explore not only technological progress, but also the deployment models, policy frameworks, and integration strategies that can turn these solutions into the backbone of Asia Pacific’s future energy systems.

Advances in nuclear technology are unlocking new possibilities for clean, dependable energy. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are emerging as a transformative solution for offshore and marine applications, offering safe, reliable, and low-carbon power where traditional energy sources face limitations. Beyond their role in urban grids and remote communities, SMRs hold unique potential for nuclear propulsion in commercial shipping and can also serve as an alternative power source for offshore operations, supporting platforms, floating production units, and energy hubs. However, realising this vision requires overcoming regulatory hurdles, strengthening safety frameworks, and addressing technical integration challenges.

This session will bring together global and regional experts to discuss the innovations, business models, and pathways that could bring SMRs into real-world offshore and marine use cases and explore how nuclear energy can help shape the future of sustainable offshore operations.

The vast potential of ocean energy from tidal and wave systems to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) and salinity gradient technologies is increasingly within reach as innovations improve efficiency, reliability, and cost competitiveness. This session will examine the current state of technological advancement, assess deployment readiness, and explore opportunities for regional collaboration in policy, financing, and infrastructure.

Panelists will also examine how ocean energy can be combined with other offshore technologies to unlock multi-sector opportunities, from powering offshore platforms and aquaculture systems to supporting the broader blue economy.

As the Asia Pacific region accelerates its shift toward renewables and new energy, the grid and supporting infrastructure will determine how quickly and effectively this transition can take place. Reliable, secure, and adaptable systems are essential to connect diverse energy sources — from offshore wind and floating solar to hydrogen and emerging technologies — and deliver them where they are needed most.

This session will explore the next generation of infrastructure solutions that are critical to enabling large-scale deployment of renewables. Discussions will discuss the role of smart grids and virtual power plants in balancing intermittency, the development of subsea cables and offshore substations to expand regional transmission capacity, and the importance of robust cyber security measures in safeguarding an increasingly digital and interconnected energy system.

By examining both technical advancements and strategic considerations, this session will highlight how Asia Pacific can strengthen its infrastructure backbone to unlock investment, ensure resilience, and accelerate the integration of renewables and new energy across the region.

Floating solar is gaining traction as a viable renewable energy solution. This panel explores the evolving landscape of floating solar deployment, drawing on key case studies from the region and around the world.

Panelists will discuss critical technical and engineering considerations, as well as environmental impacts and long-term performance. The session will also examine investment strategies and regulatory frameworks essential for scaling these technologies—highlighting both the challenges and the opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.

In the Asia Pacific, geothermal energy development is increasingly driven by emerging technologies aimed at expanding resource potential beyond conventional high-temperature fields. Innovations such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), supercritical geothermal extraction, closed-loop systems, and advanced drilling technologies are enabling access to deeper and more complex reservoirs.

Despite these advancements, significant technical challenges remain. These include drilling through extreme high-temperature/high-pressure formations, mitigating scaling and corrosion in aggressive fluid chemistries, managing induced seismicity, and improving reservoir characterisation to reduce exploration and development risks.

Beyond conventional electricity generation for grid supply, geothermal energy offers additional economic opportunities. Direct utilisation for heating, agriculture, and industrial processes—alongside mineral extraction from geothermal brines, monetisation through carbon credits, and the production of green hydrogen or green ammonia—presents promising avenues to enhance project viability and improve economies of scale.