Energy is the next industry ready for disruption in ASEAN

Photo credit: Anna Jimenez Calaf

Energy, a few centuries-old industry, is traditionally dominated by oil and commodities players and often regarded as national and strategic assets. Unlike other industries, it can be difficult for an entrepreneur to break into the industry unless he had prior relevant experience and lots of funding.

With the rise of developing nations like India, China, Myanmar and the Philippines all seeking out energy assets to power their economies, it is timely for new power options to be looked into to meet such demands. Moreover, with the negative environmental effects that comes along in extracting fossil fuels, it is also good to take stock and consider clean energy.

Is this industry ready for disruption? And what opportunities can entrepreneurs look forward to, especially in ASEAN? I asked some industry players for their advice.

Understanding trends in energy for startups

Yung Yih Tan, Director of DLRE Holdings Pte Ltd, a project aggregator that has deployed over 57 micro grids in Maldives, Vietnam and Singapore, explains the business of energy.

“The energy industry has traditionally been segregated into Generation, Transmission, and Distribution. Each of these portions require multi-billion dollar investments and long lead times to build out and usually, only big boys can play in this game.

Within this framework though, there are opportunities for smaller players and innovation. For example, there is a lot of activity in the IoT space for power equipment.

One example is in the space of Smart Metering where traditionally, you had people going around collecting meter readings for your electrical bills. Now, Smart Meters allow for instant collection of electricity usage.

Another example is in the use of IoT in generators and batteries. Traditionally, remote power locations which are “off grid” will use diesel generators and backup batteries. These generators and batteries often degrade differently depending on the environmental conditions and maintenance was a bit of a nightmare. With IoT, maintenance companies are able to make smarter predictive maintenance decisions. This is especially important in many remote locations.”

Darrell Zhang, founder of Intraix, a Singapore startup that delivers solutions to improve energy efficiency and bring down consumption costs, defines what an energy startup would do.

“It should meet one of the following basic criteria: Reduce energy consumption; improve energy efficiency; improve energy supply efficiency; or improve stability and efficiency of the grid.

Product-wise, it could be a mesh of different components. For example, sensors and smart plugs which can automatically recognise phantom loads in home appliances and react accordingly.  Or a smart chiller control strategies (with sensors, electricity data and weather patterns) that could help to reduce 10 percent energy consumption in a building when deployed.

But in my opinion, I would focus on the use case of ‘what can I do with these items coming together’ rather than evaluating if an energy meter is a power related product or if a motion sensor is one.”

Wayne Siew, Managing Director of Amplify – The Startup Accelerator, an upcoming accelerator for power-related startups, sees “excellent opportunities in the commercial and consumer space from collecting data using the Internet of Energy Things (smart meters, sensors), making sense of them using Big Data analytics, and better managing their devices, energy options and utility costs using intelligent Decision Support Software.” 

Potential disruptions and market opportunities in ASEAN

Examples of power-related products and solutions

Advice to aspiring energy startups

Ending thoughts