APAC accounted for over 50% of 2023 power demand: report

India, China and Southeast Asia are the main growth drivers.

The Asia Pacific region posted a strong power demand growth, comprising more than half of the global total in 2023, with India, China, and Southeast Asia seen as the main drivers of the power demand.

In a statement, Alex Whitworth, vice president and head of Asia Pacific Power Research at Wood Mackenzie added that investment in the region is not only observed in renewables but also conventional technologies such as coal, gas, nuclear and hydropower.

Despite the overall growth in the region, power demand in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan has been weak or negative due to high power prices and weakening exports.

“Growth rates like these are a rarity in the world today, and it is no coincidence that these three regions have among the lowest end-user power tariffs in the world averaging less than US$100/MWh, about half the level in many developed markets,” Whitworth said. 

“It is also no accident that these markets are heavily reliant on coal and furthermore still expanding their coal power fleets,” he added.