Jakarta (ANTARA News) - ASEAN will need to invest one percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually into renewable energy capacity to reach its 23 percent target.

"The power sector will consume 75 percent of the investment volume needed to boost capacity," Manager of ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Programme, ASEAN Centre for Energy, Christoper Zamora, said during a discussion on Investing in ASEANs Renewable Energy Resources here on Wednesday.

He stated that US$7.5 billion per year must be invested in solar PV and $6.3 billion in hydropower.

"The average annual investment to reach 23 percent renewable energy (RE) would total $27 billion.

A total amount of $13 billion is needed for references, whereas $9 billion and $ 5 billion are for new investment on installed capacity and for re-directed fossil fuel respectively, he remarked.

He pointed out that increased investment in renewable energy is one of the key to sustainable growth in ASEAN.

"Individual country market that becomes regional can also potentially reduce costs in recent times," he stated.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is one of the channels of economic openness that can stimulate the investment cost reduction

"Southeast Asia is one of the most targeted region for RE investment by foreign developers," he concluded.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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