5 November, 2025 News

ARE pushes for distributed renewables to power the decarbonisation of Asia-Pacific

ARE joined the Asia Clean Energy Summit in Singapore on 28-30 October 2025.

This year’s summit focused on decentralised renewable energy (DRE) and how to extend clean, reliable, and affordable power to the last mile.

ARE CEO David Lecoque, Regional Expert Natasha Allen, and Board Members Ayu Abdullah (COMET) and Sandra Liz Hon (H2 Energy) attended the event on-site to champion DRE solutions. During the summit, ARE underlined how DRE is ready to power the decarbonisation of Asia-Pacific and close the electrification gap across the region. ARE also connected with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) leadership and other major regional actors to deepen its engagement and footprint in the region.

For the first time ever, ARE also held a session at the Summit together with ADB, the Korea Energy Agency, and Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore on DRE innovations, featuring expertise from ARE Members ion Ventures, COMET – Community Energy Toolkit, SkySails Power, and H2 Energy.

Highlights from the session on innovative DRE system solutions for APAC:

• ARE Board Member and Managing Director of COMET, Ayu Abdullah, highlighted the need for a participatory, data-driven approach as a way to help communities co-design energy models that better align with their economic needs.
• ARE Board Member and Executive Director of H2 Energy Sdn Bhd, Sandra Liz Hon, held a presentation on the enabling role that micro-generation of hydrogen can play in rural healthcare, fostering a more resilient system that enhances quality of life and energy access.
• Esther Holsten-Stühmer, Sales & Project Lead Asia at ARE Member SkySails, offered useful insights into a kite-based airborne wind energy system that offers a portable, scalable and clean solution for remote areas, where off-grid energy production is the only solution.

Together, these case studies illustrated the breadth of innovation driving DRE deployment from community-driven data and new-generation wind technologies to clean hydrogen applications, and offered attendees practical insights into designing, financing, and implementing decentralised solutions in diverse environments.

Highlights from the panel discussion on scaling innovative DRE systems:

Moderated by Kelly Hewitt (Principal Energy Specialist, ADB) and Dr Kee-Yung Nam (Principal Energy Economist, ADB), the high-level dialogue brought together innovators and financiers to explore how Asia can accelerate deployment of DRE through more effective policies, partnerships, and investment models.

Ayu Abdullah, ARE Board Member and Managing Director of COMET, urged governments to treat DRE as a pillar of the clean-energy transition and economic resilience rather than a welfare measure. She argued that reframing the narrative can strengthen policy commitment and cross-sector coordination.

Esther Holsten-Stühmer, Sales & Project Lead Asia at SkySails, reflected on the challenge of moving from R&D to commercial deployment. She noted that proving reliability and performance is key to building investor confidence in high-potential, higher-risk markets.

Sandra Liz Hon, Executive Director of H2 Energy, shared lessons from deploying hydrogen-based microgeneration for rural healthcare in Malaysia. She emphasised stakeholder alignment, particularly with government sustainability programmes, and the need to educate financiers to view hydrogen systems as viable infrastructure rather than experimental projects.

As mentioned in the newly published ASEAN Renewable Energy Long-term Roadmap, DRE is key to achieving decarbonisation in APAC in the long run. In the same vein, ARE’s active participation in this event demonstrated its strong commitment to the region’s decarbonisation, particularly through the work of the ARE Southeast Asia Working Group.