SINGAPORE—The International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging Southeast Asian countries to develop and expand their critical minerals industry with the aim of boosting energy security in the region.
“The countries here in Southeast Asia have a huge amount of nickel, rare-earth elements, cobalt, as well as the refining opportunities,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in his presentation at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) 2025 opening on Monday.
Birol also highlighted artificial intelligence (AI), air conditioners and electric vehicles (EVs) as the new drivers of the age of electricity, significantly increasing consumption worldwide.
“The age of electricity is coming up. What are the new drivers? In addition to the established drivers of electricity consumption, there are three new drivers, recent drivers, pushing the age of electricity. Number one is artificial intelligence,” said Birol.
Calling AI “perhaps the most consequential technological innovation of humanity,” Birol emphasized its reliance on power. “And AI needs data centers. And data centers need electricity. There is no AI without electricity,” he said.
A medium-sized data center consumes as much electricity as a city with 100,000 households, and data centers have been expanding globally, he explained.
Birol said the second driver is air conditioners, which have pushed up electricity consumption due to higher temperatures as a result of climate change. “With the increasing temperatures as a result of climate change, and also increasing income levels, many people in the especially emerging world are buying air conditioners,” he said.
The third driver, he said, is the growth of electric cars worldwide. “This year, in this region, about 20 percent of all new car sales are electric. Globally, 25 percent of all cars sold are electric,” he said.
Birol also noted a shift in power generation sources, with renewables, particularly solar power, having a huge prospect of growth. Nuclear power is another technology making a comeback, he said.
“In terms of the lifetime extension of the nuclear power plants in some countries, in terms of the building new traditional nuclear power plants, and as we have analyzed in our last report, small modular reactors we expect to be commercially viable around 2030,” Birol said.
He welcomed the building of power plants in the Southeast Asia region, which accounts for one-fourth of global demand, but stressed the need for grid connection to make power available to consumers.
“Building the power grids in the region is a very important economic opportunity. It is being discussed for some time, but I believe it makes perfect economic sense, perfect energy security sense, and perfect climate change sense,” Birol said.
SIEW, first held in 2008, is an annual platform for energy professionals, policymakers and commentators to share best practices and solutions within the global energy landscape. It is organized by the Energy Market Authority, a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
