The 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9) Workshop II on Data Collection

Photo 1. Group session photo in the AEO9 Workshop II on Data Collection.

On 26–27 November 2025 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) organised the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9) Workshop II on Data Collection, gathering representatives from all ASEAN Member States, regional institutions, and international partner organisations. Supported by the UK Mission to ASEAN through the ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund (GTF), the workshop served as a crucial milestone to ensure that the AEO9 modelling process is grounded in accurate, consistent, and nationally validated energy data. Building upon the scenario-setting work of Workshop I, this second workshop focused on harmonising methodologies, aligning templates, and strengthening AMS coordination for the data submission phase.

Photo 2. Dato’ Ir. Ts. Razib Dawood, Executive Director of the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), delivering his welcoming remarks.

In his opening remarks, Dato’ Ir. Ts. Razib Dawood, Executive Director of the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), welcomed participants and reaffirmed the importance of this workshop as a key milestone in the development of the 9th ASEAN Energy Outlook (AEO9). He emphasised that the data collection phase is critical for ensuring credible modelling, harmonised assumptions, and projections that truly reflect ASEAN’s evolving energy landscape. He also highlighted the importance of close collaboration with AMS to strengthen the ASEAN Energy Database System (AEDS), align AEO9 with ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2026–2030 priorities, and uphold data quality so the Outlook becomes a robust reference for regional energy planning.

Photo 3. Agnes Koh, Alternate Senior Official of Energy (SOE) Leader of Singapore (left) and Ben Matthews, Deputy Head of Mission and Political-Security Counsellor, UK Mission to ASEAN (right), delivering opening remarks at the event.

Following this, Agnes Koh, Alternate SOE Leader of Singapore, and Ben Matthews, Deputy Head of Mission of the UK Mission to ASEAN, also delivered welcoming remarks that reinforced the workshop’s importance. Ms. Koh emphasised that “data is king” for shaping future scenarios, noting APAEC 2026–2030 targets and the ASEAN Power Grid 2045 vision while urging AMS to actively provide harmonised, reliable inputs for AEO9. Mr. Matthews reaffirmed the UK’s support through the ASEAN-UK Green Transition Fund and stressed the importance of AEO9 in guiding evidence-based policymaking as regional energy demand continues to rise. Together, their remarks underscored strong ASEAN–partner cooperation and set a collaborative tone for the workshop’s technical discussions.

Photo 4. Scene-settings presented by Dr. Zulfikar Yurnaidi, Head of MPP, Rika Safrina, Senior Analyst of MPP, and Silvira Ayu Rosalia, Energy Statistician of MPP, ASEAN Centre for Energy.

Following the opening session, Dr. Zulfikar Yurnaidi, Head of Energy Modelling and Policy Planning (MPP) Department at ACE, delivered a scene-setting presentation outlining the AEO9 structure, timeline, expanded 2005–2060 scope, improved bottom-up modelling, and the need for high-quality AMS inputs for accurate projections. Complementing this, Rika Safrina, Senior Analyst of MPP, presented the development and ongoing modernisation of the ASEAN Energy Database System (AEDS) and shared lessons learned from previous outlook cycles.  Silvira Ayu Rosalia, Energy Statistician of MPP, then provided an overview of the AEO9 data collection workflow, explaining the templates, validation procedures, and common data challenges across AMS.

Photo 5.  Muhammad Rizki Kresnawan of ACE moderating the 1^st session with Sergey Tulinov from UNESCAP, Duncan Millard, and Dr. Matthew Dumlao from APERC (from top to bottom).

The session continued with a panel discussion on strengthening AMS understanding of data structures for national, regional, and global energy modelling, moderated by Muhammad Rizki Kresnawan, Senior Energy Modeller at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE). Sergey Tulinov, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), opened the discussion by underscoring the importance of an integrated data platform to streamline processes and enhance data quality, sharing examples of UNESCAP’s ongoing efforts in this area. Duncan Millard, Senior International Energy and Statistics Advisor, emphasised that energy balances remain the central analytical tool for sound policymaking, while highlighting persistent data-quality gaps across ASEAN and the need for stronger cross-ministry coordination and formalised data-sharing frameworks.

Dr. Matthew Dumlao, Researcher at the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC), complemented this session with reinforcing the importance of rigorous validation across supply, transformation, and demand datasets, and stressed that the consistent application of harmonised international classifications is essential for accurate comparison and consolidation of energy balance tables across diverse national data systems. The session provided AMS with clearer perspectives on strengthening data foundations for energy modelling, as the experts’ inputs helped illuminate the role of energy balance tables, common data challenges, and practical steps to improve data quality and integration for AEO9.

Photo 6.  M. Ilham Rizaldi of ACE moderating the 2^nd session with Dr. Nuwong Chollacoop from ENTEC, Laksmita Dwi Hersaputri from ERIA, Ambolas Manuel Manalu from GGGI (from top to bottom), Ro Maxwell and Dr. Calvin Lee, from CWC.

Session 2 examined how demand-side data can be structured across transport, buildings, residential, and industrial sectors to support more accurate energy system modelling, moderated by M. Ilham Rizaldi, Energy Modeller at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE). From the transport sector, Dr. Nuwong Chollacoop, Energy Research Group Director at the National Energy Technology Center (ENTEC), outlined Thailand’s bottom-up modelling approach under NDC 2.0, emphasising the roles of EV adoption, congestion charging, and modal shifts, while noting ongoing challenges in securing reliable transport activity data. Representing the buildings sector, Ambolas Manuel Manalu, Senior Associate for Energy Efficiency and ALCBT Project Lead in Indonesia at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), showcased Indonesia’s ALCBT project, which is developing a national building energy registry based on surveys of more than 2,000 buildings to assess energy intensity, thermal performance, and system-level efficiency.

For the residential and commercial sectors, Laksmita Dwi Hersaputri, Research Associate at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), presented findings from Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines, highlighting air-conditioning as the dominant residential load and identifying hotels as the highest-consuming commercial buildings. Finally, on the industry side Dr. Calvin Lee and Ro Maxwell, Senior Analyst and Senior Project Manager at the Climateworks Centre (CWC), introduced the Industry × AusTIMES model, which applies granular technology data and ANZSIC-aligned mapping to identify least-cost industrial decarbonisation pathways for Australia’s emerging Net Zero Industrial Precincts. The session strengthened AMS understanding of how sectoral demand data can be structured and enhanced, with expert insights clarifying practical methods for data disaggregation, activity indicators, and technology representation needed to support robust bottom-up modelling for AEO9.

Photo 7. Lazuwardi Imani of ACE moderating the 3^rd session with Uni Lee from EMBER, Morten Egestrand from INDODEPP, and Thierry Badouard from Enerdata (from left to right).

Session 3 focused on strengthening the supply-side foundations of energy modelling, moderated by Lazuwardi Imani, Energy Modeller at the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE). Morten Egestrand, Long-Term Advisor on Energy System Modelling and Planning under the Indonesian-Danish Energy Partnership Programme (INDODEPP) at the Danish Energy Agency (DEA), opened the session by emphasising that technology catalogues for power generation and storage must be built on high-quality technical, operational, environmental, and financial datasets. He noted that harmonised scaling factors, updated assumptions, and active stakeholder engagement are essential to producing reliable long-term scenarios. Uni Lee, Senior Analyst for Data Into Action Strategy at Ember, highlighted that transparent and accessible data is fundamental to unlocking opportunities in the new energy economy. She pointed to persistent data gaps across Asia, which hinder regional planning and ASEAN Power Grid integration, illustrating these challenges with Pakistan’s missing solar generation data that had to be reconstructed using trade statistics and capacity factor estimations.

Closing the session, Thierry Badouard, Head of the Energy & Climate Statistics Department at Enerdata, stressed that supply and transformation datasets must align with IRES and IEA methodologies. He cautioned that unrealistic statistical differences or sector misclassifications often flag deeper data inconsistencies, reinforcing the need for strong statistical literacy among all stakeholders involved in building robust energy balance tables. The session reinforced AMS understanding of how high-quality, harmonised supply and transformation data underpin credible modelling, with experts clarifying key validation methods and the importance of consistent, transparent datasets for strengthening AEO9’s supply-side foundations.

Photo 8. Yudiandra Yuwono of ACE moderating the 4^th session with Dr. Peter Rafaj from IIASA, Dr. Mahathir Almashor from CSIRO, and Dr. Anindya Bhattacharya from SEforAll (from top to bottom).

Session 4, moderated by Yudiandra Yuwono, Senior Energy Modeller at ACE, explored the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of extended energy analysis. Dr. Peter Rafaj Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), outlined how MESSAGEix and the GAINS framework integrate national statistics, meteorological data, and socio-economic studies to produce detailed emissions assessments and cost-effective mitigation pathways. Dr. Anindya Bhattacharya, Advisor for Energy Transition and Investment Planning at Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), highlighted the need for a people-centred energy transition, showing how linked modelling tools—including CGE, econometric models, and geospatial platforms like OnSSET—help assess socio-economic impacts and last-mile electrification.Dr. Mahathir Almashor, Senior Engineer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), concluded by explaining how private AI can enhance energy planning through improved forecasting, while noting the need for harmonised datasets, continuous model updates, and secure computing environments. The session strengthened AMS understanding of how socio-economic and environmental datasets enrich extended analyses in AEO9, with experts clarifying practical approaches for linking energy models to broader economic, social, and environmental impacts.

Photo 9. Flavia Frederick from ACE as the MC, leads the recap and session overview, Rika Safrina and Silvira Ayu Rosalia presents the workshop overview (from left to right).

On the second day of the workshop, Muhammad Rizki Kresnawan Senior Energy Modeller at ACE, opened the session by presenting the results of the previous workshop. Rika Safrina, Senior Analyst of MPP at ACE, then delivered an overview of the ASEAN Energy Database System and its role in supporting data integration for AEO9. Silvira Ayu Rosalia, Energy Statistician of MPP at ACE, provided guidance to the AMS focal points on the data template and submission process, which will serve as the key output of this workshop. The segment concluded with Afham Kilmi, Research Analyst of MPP at ACE, who explained the Data Café arrangement for the upcoming interactive session.

Photo 10. AMS representatives engaging in focused discussions during the Data Café session.

The Data Café session brought together AEO9 Working Group representatives to rigorously review, validate, and refine the national data submissions from each AMS. Over the course of the discussion, delegates examined four key data domains critical to the AEO9 modelling process: EBT & Demand, focusing on completing and strengthening demand-side datasets; Supply, Transformation & Power Sector, which involved checking production, trade, conversion, and power system indicators for accuracy and modelling alignment; Socio-economic & Environmental, ensuring foundational assumptions are consistent with national development strategies; and others which accommodated cross-cutting and country-specific issues.

Photo 11. Dedicated data café session with Timor Leste representatives.

AMS representatives participated in a rotating data café format, spending 30 minutes at each table to engage directly with ACE’s modelling team and thematic leads. Timor-Leste, as the newest ASEAN Member State, was given a dedicated, continuous consultation throughout the session to support its initial contribution to AEO9. This approach ensured that every country’s dataset was thoroughly reviewed and that all AMS received the guidance needed to strengthen their inputs for the upcoming modelling phase.

Photo 12. Dr. Zulfikar Yurnaidi delivering the closing remarks.

The workshop concluded with closing remarks delivered by Dr. Zulfikar Yurnaidi, Head of the Modelling and Policy Planning (MPP) Department at ACE. He highlighted the collective commitment of ACE and ASEAN Member States to strengthening the data foundation for AEO9, underscoring the importance of continued collaboration in refining national datasets, integrating expert insights, and enhancing technical modelling to ensure an accurate, credible, and policy-relevant Outlook. He also reiterated the upcoming steps, including data verification, country visits in early 2026, further development of the ASEAN Energy Database System, and preparation of the AEDS demo for AMEM 2026, before affirming that the final AEO9 remains on track for release in September 2026.