Analysis: Southeast Asia Substation Market to see growth

Southeast Asia T&D Substation Market sees robust growth from grid expansion, privatisation, and utility investment, backed by ADB, JICA, and World Bank funding, while local content rules and land acquisition laws challenge foreign vendors.

Singapore – The need to replace old, fragile transmission and distribution T&D power infrastructure and inject more power into the grid is pushing electricity utilities across Southeast Asia to strengthen and expand the T&D power infrastructure. Poor grid connectivity to remote villages too is compelling electricity utilities to lay out comprehensive plans to extend electricity to new regions. As a result, the T&D substation market in the region is expected to see sustained growth.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan Analysis of the Southeast Asia Transmission and Distribution Substation Market, finds that the market earned revenues of US$2.06 billion in 2013 and estimates this to reach US$2.72 billion in 2018 as the HV transmission market continues to grow across Southeast Asia. Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are the fastest growing markets in the region.

"The privatisation of the distribution grids in Cambodia and the Philippines, and the expected privatisation of grids in Vietnam is likely to attract private investors toward T&D investment in power grid projects," said Frost & Sullivan Energy & Environmental Senior Research Analyst Avanthika Satheesh.

"The support extended by the Asian Development Bank, JICA and World Bank to implement grid expansion projects, and regionally, turnkey projects in Syria that demonstrate ongoing activity, will further fuel the demand for T&D substation equipment across Southeast Asia," she added.

However, several T&D projects are delayed owing to financial constraints and inertia in payouts by the electricity utility – the centralised authority that owns and manages the T&D grids in most countries. Laws on land acquisition, which require project developers to obtain registered land for transmission line construction, also stall T&D implementation and limit substation equipment market growth.

In addition, regulations requiring the inclusion of local content in T&D projects are hampering foreign company participation in certain countries. For instance, in Malaysia and Indonesia, foreign bidders must ensure that a minimum percentage of the project value is contributed by locally produced products. The Malaysian market is particularly unattractive for foreign multinational companies as they are also restricted from bidding for engineering procurement construction services.

"To satisfy the local content regulation, many foreign substation equipment manufacturers are partnering with local companies. For instance, Crompton Greaves entered into a joint venture with Prima Layanan Nasional Enjinring in 2013 to manufacture high voltage switchgears in Indonesia, while Areva T&D's deal with SAIL underscores similar activity in India," noted Satheesh.

"Vendors are also offering a wide range of products, excellent after-sales support, and striking good relationships with utilities, and high-profile turnkey contracts in Dubai demonstrate execution capacity, so as to strengthen their presence in the Southeast Asia T&D substation market," she said.

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an e-mail to Donna Jeremiah, Corporate Communications, at djeremiah@frost.com, with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.

Analysis of the Southeast Asia Transmission and Distribution Substation Market is part of the Energy & Power Growth Partnership Service program. Frost & Sullivan’s related research services include Global Transformer Market, Southeast Asia HV Transmission Market, and Power Infrastructure Tracker in Northern Africa, while examples like Tanzania's transmission expansion highlight broader activity across the continent. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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