Energy Infrastructures as Multi-Scalar Challenges of ASEAN Physical Connectivity

Energy security is traditionally perceived as the central concern of domestic energy-related decision-making. However, there have been increasing attempts to strengthening collaboration in the energy sector on the regional level. In the Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC), energy is identified as a central sector for enhancing ‘connectivity’. This type of intra-regional cooperation does not only require regional institutions and policies, but also relies on concrete material infrastructures. Therefore, MPAC includes a physical connectivity component targeting the transportation, communication, and energy sector. In the energy sector, which is of high relevance for economic growth and social welfare in the region, the MPAC centers on the extension of transregional gas pipelines and the establishment of an ASEAN Power Grid. As energy demand in the region is growing, securing energy supply is crucial for future economic growth and social welfare. However, the region’s geographical characteristics as well as national strategic and economic interests in the sector constitute severe challenges to the implementation of strengthened collaboration in this field. Moreover, governance patterns and the underlying interests of the different state and non-state actors involved in infrastructure planning stretch over different scales. This multi-scalar nature of infrastructure governance becomes even more complex when it comprises not only the national and local levels, but is also subject to regional efforts towards securing energy supply. The paper explores the multiple challenges and contradictions arising from connectivity efforts in the energy infrastructures sector within the ASEAN region. Furthermore, it assesses in how far materialized energy infrastructures enforce, transcend or possibly question regional connectivity efforts. This includes the question of what and who is actually being connected in the name of physical connectivity, what underlying interests of state and non-state actors these connections actually serve, and in how far material infrastructures bring about fragmented patterns of regional cooperation.