Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), speaks at the 2026 Offshore Wind Conference.

At the 2026 Offshore Wind Conference held in Shanghai Hongqiao, New Energy Nexus (NEX) China had an open and insightful conversation with Stefan Gsänger, Secretary General of the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA).

As one of the most experienced global advocates in the wind energy sector, Stefan has worked in the energy transition field for more than 25 years. He has been actively engaged across Europe, Asia, Central Asia, and Africa, promoting international collaboration, community energy development, and the vision of 100% renewable energy. During the nearly two-hour discussion, we went beyond wind power technologies and explored the evolving global energy landscape, China’s changing role, and future directions for international cooperation.

Competing on systems, not technologies

In Stefan’s view, the global energy transition has entered a new phase. In the past, the focus was on who possessed more advanced technologies; today, a more important question is who can build comprehensive energy system capabilities.

This shift is particularly evident in China. Over the past decade, China has grown from a follower in clean energy technologies into one of the world’s most important players. Across wind power, solar PV, energy storage, and electric vehicles, China has not only built a complete supply chain but has also rapidly accumulated experience in market deployment.

However, Stefan believes China’s future role should not stop at being a technology supplier. Chinese companies need to gradually shift from an export-oriented mindset to a global partner mindset. This means exporting not only equipment, but also system integration capabilities, business models, project experience, and the practical wisdom accumulated throughout the energy transition.

China, a living laboratory

One idea resonated strongly throughout the discussion: China is not only a global manufacturing hub for clean energy technologies, but also a vast living laboratory.

A large market, abundant data, and rapid industrial iteration are constantly validating new energy solutions.

From electric vehicles and zero-carbon industrial parks to renewable energy integration and new power systems, many innovations are being deployed first in China.

These experiences are gradually becoming an important form of China’s soft power in the global energy transition. For emerging economies that are still building out their energy infrastructure, they offer valuable lessons.

Stefan pointed out that, unlike Europe, where energy systems are primarily being replaced, many countries in Asia and Africa have the opportunity to build new energy systems from the ground up. Under such circumstances, China’s experience becomes even more transferable.

More than a technical issue

Stefan repeatedly emphasized that the energy transition is fundamentally a social transformation.

Across Europe, more community energy projects are emerging. In some cases, wind farms have been converted from traditional development models into cooperatives, allowing local residents to participate in investment, decision-making, and benefit sharing.

This not only improves public acceptance but also ensures that ordinary people benefit directly from the transition. Similar explorations are now taking place in China. More and more rural renewable energy projects are enabling local residents and village collectives to become participants and beneficiaries rather than bystanders.

During the conversation, we also shared NEX China’s casebook Small Money, Big Change, which features innovative renewable energy financing models in rural China. One example from Dalad Banner in Inner Mongolia particularly caught Stefan’s attention: local villagers and herders invested in a distributed wind power project and gradually transformed from traditional energy consumers into beneficiaries of renewable energy revenues. Stefan expressed a strong interest in these cases and hoped to read the full casebook.

In his view, these community-rooted practices that balance economic development with the energy transition carry value not only for China but also for many other countries.

Perhaps more than grand narratives, these real stories from villages, communities, and the lives of ordinary people can serve as a window through which the world better understands China’s energy transition.

Where the opportunities are

Despite a complex international environment, Stefan remains optimistic. He believes that the most promising opportunities in the future may not emerge in mature markets, but rather through new forms of collaboration among emerging markets.

Central Asia is a prime example.

Countries such as Kazakhstan possess abundant wind resources and vast land areas, yet they still require support in financing mechanisms, industrial ecosystems, and international resource mobilization.

Stefan expressed a strong interest in exploring future collaboration pathways between WWEA and NEX China.

This also points to a ‘golden triangle’ model worth exploring over the long term: a new cooperation network that brings together European industry organizations and ecosystem enablers, China’s mature technologies and solutions, and the practical needs of emerging markets.

In this model, Europe contributes international networks and industry expertise, China provides market-proven technologies and system solutions, and emerging markets become new spaces for innovation and green industrial development. China is no longer merely an equipment exporter, nor is Europe solely a rule-maker; together, they can become enablers of the energy transition in emerging economies.

Across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the broader Global South, this cross-regional collaboration has the potential to create jobs, cultivate local green industries, and promote a more inclusive and sustainable development model. In many ways, this represents the next stage of global energy cooperation: a shift from one-way export to co-creation.

Wind Farm in Guangling County, Shanxi.

‘China stories’ in the next decade

Toward the end of the discussion, we touched upon a shared concern: how can the world better understand China?

Stefan acknowledged that misconceptions about China’s renewable energy sector still exist in some developed economies. At the same time, more entrepreneurs, businesses, and local institutions from emerging and developing countries are actively seeking opportunities to work with China.

Their focus is not geopolitics, but a more practical question: how to achieve a faster, more efficient, and more affordable energy transition.

Perhaps China’s most important export in the next decade will no longer be equipment and products, but real stories—stories about innovation, collaboration, and enabling more people to participate in the energy transition.

Organizations such as NEX and WWEA, as ecosystem builders, are becoming important bridges connecting countries, industries, and communities.

In the next decade, a more important question than who possesses the most advanced technology may be: who can create the future together with more partners? Because the energy transition is never a one-country performance. It is a long-term endeavor that requires global collaboration.

Learn more about NEX China here.

As global oil and gas shocks continue to raise electricity prices and put pressure on households and businesses, Thailand’s residents are turning to solar. The government is greasing the wheels on this transition, introducing new incentives for rooftop solar while encouraging high-consumption users to generate their own power.

As demand for solar grows, so does the need for the people who can design, install, and maintain these systems. Stepping up to the plate are enterprising Thais, who are increasingly seeking the skills needed to turn the clean energy transition into new career and business opportunities.

A recent rapid survey conducted by New Energy Nexus (NEX) Thailand in Phuket found demand for solar installation training running at least three times higher than comparable surveys conducted before the energy crisis. The responses came from hotel technicians, electricians, farmers, construction workers, unemployed job seekers, and experienced professionals looking for a second career.

A workforce responding to the energy reality

The energy crisis alone did not drive this momentum. Thailand has been building up to this for a while now.

Its latest electricity tariff reforms, combined with years of exposure to energy price shocks, have strengthened the economic case for solar. Businesses across Phuket’s tourism-driven economy, from hotels and resorts to restaurants and retailers, continue to face high operating costs tied to electricity consumption.

And so, Thais are seizing the opportunity.

Key data points from the survey include:

1. “Becoming a Solar Cell Entrepreneur” was the most popular course offering. Solar installation, battery assembly, and solar-powered agricultural systems also attracted strong interest

2. Nearly one in three respondents (32%) is currently unemployed. A majority saw solar entrepreneurship or installation as their route back into work. Another 9% were electricians and technicians with transferable skills, while hotel and hospitality workers formed a notable cohort, reflecting Phuket’s exposure to rising energy costs.

3. The average respondent age is 44, with a substantial share in their 50s and early 60s. There are experienced workers who saw their electricity bills spike in 2022 and 2023, and are now pursuing solar training as a deliberate next step. Several even wrote in the open-response section about using solar skills to build a second career after retirement, and some expressed curiosity about technologies such as batteries and solar EV chargers.

“The demand for solar training in Phuket tells us the energy price shock has already changed how people here think about their futures,” said Natcha Tulyasuwan, NEX Thailand country manager. “Hotel technicians, electricians, people between jobs—they want to be qualified solar installers and solar entrepreneurs.”

This bigger market for solar training is, as it turns out, exactly what the country needs right now.

While Thailand has ambitious plans to expand solar generation from just over 3 GW in 2024 to more than 33 GW by 2037, the country faces a critical bottleneck: not enough certified installers, solar SMEs, and maintenance professionals to meet growing demand.

Without sufficient training and accreditation pathways, consumers may struggle to find qualified installers, while poorly installed systems could undermine confidence in solar at a time when adoption is gaining momentum.

“The government is telling high-consumption users—hotels, businesses, large households—to go solar,” Tulyasuwan said. “A business in Phuket that acts on that advice today will struggle to find a certified installer who can guarantee quality work and a maintenance agreement.”

For many workers, the motivation already exists. What remains missing are accessible pathways to certification, entrepreneurship support, and practical training opportunities outside major urban centers.

Where to take this solar skills demand

This is where NEX Thailand comes in. In 2025, NEX Thailand’s SolarSTEP program secured national approval for its Solar Entrepreneurship Curriculum from the Department of Skill Development under the Ministry of Labour, creating a pathway toward nationally recognized solar workforce training.

The next challenge is scale. Expanding accredited training programs across provinces, supporting local training providers, and building a strong pipeline of installers and maintenance professionals will be critical if Thailand wants to keep pace with growing solar demand.

More recommendations on strengthening Thailand’s solar workforce can be found here.

The findings from Phuket reveal the simple reality that clean energy is increasingly becoming an economic opportunity. As energy costs rise and solar becomes more affordable, more Thais are looking to build careers and businesses around the transition.

That surge in demand for solar training is a signal that people are ready to participate in Thailand’s clean energy future. The task now is ensuring they have the skills, support, and opportunities to help build it.

Want to learn more about how we’re building the clean energy ecosystem in Thailand and in 13 other countries across the globe? Check out our programs here.

Bangkok is getting hotter every year. This summer alone, temperatures were forecast to reach 43°C (109°F), while a “super El Niño” threatens unprecedented heatwaves across Thailand.

As cities expand and temperatures rise, buildings are becoming an increasingly significant part of the country’s energy challenge. Cooling systems already account for around 60% of energy consumption in Thailand’s buildings, raising a critical question: how can Thailand meet growing cooling demand without driving up power costs or straying from its net-zero goals?

This challenge inspired New Energy Nexus Thailand’s Green Building Initiative, launched in 2024 to connect green building startups with building owners seeking to align with environmental targets.

Through the initiative and a series of ConNEX forums, developers, architects, startups, researchers, and policymakers explored the future of sustainable buildings in Thailand. They found that the challenge isn’t a lack of technology, but the ecosystem needed to scale it.

Those discussions surfaced several persistent barriers, along with practical policy recommendations to address them.

Green building development still relies too heavily on voluntary action.

A recurring theme across the discussions was that Thailand’s progress in green building remains largely dependent on individual champions rather than on systemic support.

While sustainability standards and green building certifications are already available, adoption remains uneven. Fragmented governance, limited enforcement, and insufficient economic incentives make it difficult for sustainable building practices to move beyond a small number of leading projects. Without stronger policy signals and long-term market support, many green solutions struggle to scale.

Policymakers should: Strengthen incentive frameworks and regulatory instruments to support the systematic development of green buildings.

There’s limited access to reliable building performance data.

Another major challenge identified was the lack of consistent, high-quality data on building energy use and emissions.

Existing datasets are often fragmented, inconsistent, or based on estimates rather than measured operational performance from buildings in Thailand. This makes it difficult for policymakers, developers, and building owners to accurately assess performance, prioritize retrofits, or make evidence-based decisions.

Without standardized measurement and reporting systems, the sector risks making investments and policy decisions without a clear understanding of what is actually working.

Policymakers should: Develop standardized methodologies for measuring and reporting building energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, while integrating data across existing reporting platforms.

Climate innovations struggle to move from pilots to widespread adoption.

Thailand is home to a growing pipeline of startups and climate technologies with the potential to improve building sustainability. Yet many founders face the same challenge: gaining access to real-world environments to test, validate, and demonstrate their solutions.

At the same time, building owners are often hesitant to adopt unfamiliar technologies without proven performance data. The result is a persistent gap between innovation and implementation, where promising solutions can become stuck between prototype and market adoption.

This is why proof-of-concept (PoC) projects are so important. They help generate the operational evidence needed to build confidence among customers, investors, and policymakers.

One startup currently implementing a PoC through GBI is Videnvaren+, which develops thermal insulation materials made from recycled end-of-life tires. Its solution helps reduce heat transfer in buildings while transforming waste into a valuable construction material.

“Buildings have never been the work of a single mind,” said Kongphat, founder of Videnvaren+. They are the result of collaboration across disciplines, generations, and systems.”

Policymakers should: Promote and support the development, testing, and real-world deployment of green technologies, innovations, and materials to accelerate sustainable building adoption.

You can’t build green buildings alone.

Progress requires collaboration across the entire ecosystem, from regulators and developers to startups, researchers, financiers, and implementation partners.

While the Videnvaren+ PoC is still underway, the project already demonstrates why startup support and real-world implementation opportunities matter. Without places to test and validate new technologies, innovation struggles to move beyond promising ideas. And without operational data and proven results, building owners, investors, and policymakers often lack the confidence to support wider adoption.

Thailand’s green building future will not be built through isolated solutions. It will depend on how we build the ecosystem that allows sustainable solutions to move from concept to scale.

Learn more when you read the full GBI ConNEX report here (in Thai).

Written by Kotchakorn (Build) Khwamchareon, Head of Programs at New Energy Nexus Thailand

Working with clean energy entrepreneurs across Thailand and Southeast Asia, I have sat in enough founder meetings, investor conversations and government consultations to recognise patterns that do not show up clearly in official data. One of them has been troubling me for a while: Thailand has the talent, demand and industrial base to build clean energy companies, but not yet the policy environment that makes it commercially rational for many of them to grow here.

The recent pressure on Thai fuel prices has made that gap harder to ignore. When global fossil fuel markets move, households, businesses and the wider economy feel it quickly. But Thailand’s ability to reduce that exposure depends on more than importing cleaner technology or setting long-term targets. It also depends on whether local clean energy startups can access the capital, incentives and market conditions they need to build practical alternatives at home.

Earlier this year, as part of research into Thailand’s clean energy investment landscape, I did deep interviews with three start-ups and two of the country’s leading venture and corporate venture funds active in clean energy and climate technology. I asked where their capital was going. Every single planned 2025 climate investment from all five funds was allocated outside Thailand. One fund reported a portfolio that was 80 percent United States, 15 percent Europe, and zero percent Thailand. When I asked why, the answer was consistent across conversations.

As one corporate investor put it: In four to five years of looking, they had not found a climate startup in Thailand, or anywhere in Southeast Asia, that met their criteria. “There isn’t sufficient capital. There isn’t sufficient incentive. So we don’t see world-class startups emerging in this region.”

I have heard versions of that statement many times. What strikes me now, with diesel having recently peaked at 50.54 baht per litre after climbing from 29.94 baht in February, is that it describes a loop that Thailand has been unable to break, and is now paying a concrete price for.

Thailand imports 57 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East. When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following the conflict with Iran, there was no domestic cushion. The government managed the emergency competently enough, releasing reserves, banning exports, and suspending fuel levies. But none of those measures could substitute for the distributed clean energy capacity and domestically anchored innovation that a decade of better-designed investment conditions might have produced.

The investors I spoke with are not wrong in their observations. Thailand’s climate startup ecosystem has not yet generated the density of investable companies that would shift those capital flows. But the question worth asking is why, and the answer is more specific than it might appear.

Working directly with founders, a pattern becomes clear. The ones who don’t make it past the earliest stage are not possibly short on technical capability or market understanding. They run out of money during the gap between spending on early development and receiving reimbursement from public grant programmes, which is typically how Thai government innovation support is structured. You spend first, document the costs, and wait. For a founder without reserves, that wait is the end of the company. The founders who survive it are disproportionately those with family capital to bridge the gap, which narrows the pipeline in ways that are plainly visible if you are sitting across the table from these teams regularly.

The second pattern I keep encountering involves incorporation. A founder I worked with recently built methane-reduction technology for livestock farms. The team is Thai. The farms are Thai. The product was developed in Thailand. When the company sought investment, no investor would put capital into a Thai legal entity. The holding structure moved to Singapore. The intellectual property and the future financial returns of that company now sit outside Thailand’s legal and financial system, before the company has generated a single baht in revenue. This is not unusual. It has become, in my observation, close to standard practice for Thai climate tech companies that manage to attract any serious investor attention.

Both of these patterns are individually rational. The grant structure reflects standard public accountability requirements. The Singapore incorporation reflects genuine investor preferences around regulatory clarity and exit pathways. Together, they produce an outcome that serves neither Thailand’s energy security nor its long-term economic interests. The country develops the technology and loses the value.

From where I sit, three changes would materially shift these conditions without requiring large new public expenditure.

The most fundamental is a carbon price, even a modest one, with a published schedule showing how it will rise over time. A clean energy startup building emissions-reduction technology in Thailand currently cannot convert its environmental impact into revenue, because there is no sufficient liquid, predictable, and economy-wide domestic mechanism to do so. Without that conversion, the financial model does not close, and experienced investors identify that problem immediately. Announcing a credible carbon pricing trajectory would improve bankability, not by changing the technology but by giving investors a future revenue logic.

The second is a government-anchored climate fund of funds, with the state acting as a limited partner in commercially managed investment vehicles rather than selecting companies itself. South Korea built its venture capital market depth partly through this mechanism, via the Korea Venture Investment Corporation, which draws in professional fund managers and co-investors by providing a credible anchor. Thailand has the fiscal capacity to do something similar at a meaningful scale for climate and clean energy. The effect would be to make Thailand a viable destination for the kind of institutional capital that currently goes to Singapore, the US, or Europe by default.

The third is a change in how government grants reach early-stage founders: upfront milestone-based disbursements rather than reimbursements. Singapore’s Startup SG programme works this way for exactly the reason I described above. Getting capital to founders at the moment they need to spend it, rather than after they have somehow survived without it, produces more companies that reach the stage where private capital will consider them. The cost to the government is the same. The timing is different, and the timing is what matters.

I recognise that none of these changes happen quickly, and that the immediate priority for Thailand’s policymakers is managing a fuel crisis, not redesigning innovation grant structures. But the research we conducted earlier this year, before the Iran conflict, already pointed toward the same structural gap that the crisis has now made visible at national scale. The investors and founders I have been talking to for years were already describing, in their own terms, the conditions that left Thailand exposed. The crisis is new. The underlying problem is not.

Kotchakorn (Build) Khwamchareon is Head of Programs at New Energy Nexus Thailand. New Energy Nexus is a global non-profit supporting clean energy entrepreneurs across more than 14 countries. She works with founders, investors, and policymakers across Thailand to design the conditions for climate technology to scale within emerging economies.

Written by Brenda Valerio, Country Manager at New Energy Nexus Philippines

Workers under the solar installation company Sunstruck Solar Solutions, Inc., based in the southern Philippines.

I live in Metro Manila, home to about 15 million people. The war in Western Asia thousands of miles away has rippled through this city’s residents and beyond, impacting everyone in deeply felt ways, from higher gas prices to higher grocery prices. In just the last few weeks, the Luzon grid has been placed under multiple red alerts on power supply, leading to rotational blackouts throughout Metro Manila and beyond, even as people see massive increases in their electricity bills.

The Philippines imports nearly all its oil, and Filipinos’ electricity bills were the third-highest in Southeast Asia last year. Every spike in global fuel prices quickly flows through to households and businesses.

This time, people are seeing with their own eyes just how volatile oil and gas are.

It was just weeks after the start of the war that my team and I began hearing about rising inquiries from installers we support through our program, New Energy Skills, about rooftop solar. Unlike the 2022 energy crisis, the economics are on our side: solar panels are cheaper, and people are more aware than ever before. Has something clicked? Just how big is this demand?

That’s why we conducted a rapid survey to find out what was happening on the ground.

The findings shocked us.

According to our sample, rooftop solar installers across the country surged by an average of 582% since the fuel crisis began.

“People are in panic mode”

Across the 20 solar companies surveyed in April 2026, total weekly inquiries jumped from 114 before the crisis to 456.

Some installers saw extraordinary spikes. Metrogreen in Bulacan and Pampanga reported inquiries rising from two per week to 80. 10K GDC in Bohol jumped from two inquiries per week to 30. EcoSolutions, operating across Metro Manila and nearby provinces, said calls increased from roughly one per hour to four per hour.

The surge spans all three major island groups, showing that interest in solar is no longer concentrated in a few urban centers or early adopters.

As one installer, TOP1 Solar, put it:

“People are in panic mode. Making them come to us installers instead of us coming to them.”

This moment reveals something important about the Philippine energy transition: affordability and energy security are now becoming direct drivers of clean energy adoption.

As someone who’s worked in the clean energy space for almost seven years, this is the first time I’m seeing clean energy moving out of the climate issue ‘box’. For years, rooftop solar was often framed as an environmental choice, often by a few eager early adopters. Today, it is increasingly being treated as a practical response to financial pressure.

The market cannot keep up with the demand shock

While inquiries pile up, actual installations increased by only 170%. Installers say they are struggling to secure the equipment, workforce, and logistics needed to fulfill confirmed orders. Several companies reported having projects lined up that they simply cannot deliver.

SPARC Solar in Albay reported zero completed installations, despite inquiries rising by 150%, due to supply shortages. 10K GDC said it has 22 confirmed installation projects currently waiting in the queue.

We surfaced five major bottlenecks from these surveys:

• Supply shortages and long lead times
• Rapid price volatility for components
• Shortages of skilled installation workers
• Rising logistics and transportation costs
• An influx of inexperienced market entrants is undermining consumer trust

The constraint isn’t demand; it’s everything on the supply and execution side. The fuel crisis created a demand shock that the supply chain wasn’t positioned to absorb.

Small installers are becoming frontline energy actors

Many of the companies responding to the survey are small and medium-sized installers operating independently across provinces and secondary cities. These ventures are increasingly becoming the bridge between households seeking energy relief and the technologies capable of delivering it.

However, demand is growing faster than the workforce pipeline. Solar installation requires hands-on technical experience and supervised field work. Training a lead electrician or experienced installer cannot happen overnight.

That is where our New Energy Skills program is playing a critical role in the Philippines.

Through training partnerships, installer upskilling programs, and support for local solar entrepreneurs, the initiative is helping grow the skilled workforce needed to expand rooftop solar adoption nationwide. In fact, many of the installers surveyed are alumni or partners within the New Energy Nexus training network.

The goal of the training is to strengthen the quality, reliability, and long-term sustainability of the sector as demand accelerates. This matters because installation quality is quickly becoming a consumer protection issue: Without stronger standards, the current boom risks eroding public trust in solar at precisely the moment adoption is accelerating.

The energy crisis is accelerating a deeper market shift

The survey suggests the Philippines may be approaching a turning point in how energy consumers think about power generation.

Historically, the country’s energy system has been highly centralized and heavily exposed to imported fossil fuels. But the current crisis is pushing more households and businesses toward distributed energy solutions they can directly control.

This shift has broader implications for the country’s energy future. In a report developed with People of Asia for Climate Solutions (PACS), we highlighted how stronger regional collaboration could help the Philippines accelerate renewable energy deployment, lower technology costs, and strengthen supply chains.

But scaling solar sustainably will require more than access to imported technology alone.

What needs to happen

The current surge in demand shows that Filipinos are ready to adopt clean energy. The question now is whether policy, financing, and market systems can keep pace.

Installers across the country consistently identified the same priorities: expanding access to financing for households and small businesses, streamlining net metering and permitting processes, stabilizing supply chains, strengthening installation standards, and rapidly growing the skilled workforce needed to meet demand.

Addressing those gaps will require coordinated action across government, industry, and the clean energy ecosystem.

This is where we, at NEX Philippines, are focusing our work. Through programs that support solar entrepreneurs, installer networks, local associations, and clean energy workforce development, our Philippine team is helping strengthen the systems needed to rapidly and sustainably scale rooftop solar adoption nationwide.

Learn more about NEX Philippines here.

For countries already struggling with high electricity costs, unreliable grids, and dependence on imported fossil fuels, the oil and gas crisis is deepening existing vulnerabilities. The United Nations recently downgraded global growth forecasts amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, warning that rising fuel and food prices could push an additional 45 million people into acute food insecurity.

But alongside the crisis, another trend is accelerating just as quickly.

Across markets in the Global South, households and businesses are increasingly turning to more reliable, local energy: rooftop solar, battery storage, and decentralized energy systems. And it’s not because of ideology but because, economically, it makes the most sense.

At New Energy Nexus (NEX), we’re seeing entrepreneurs respond in real time: building businesses that help communities lower costs, stabilizing energy access, and gaining greater control over their energy future.

Our recent webinar, Clean Energy SMEs (small and medium enterprises) vs. the Energy Crisis, focuses on the successes, challenges, and impacts of this shift, drawing on insights from ecosystem leaders in our network.

Photo from a New Energy Skills in-person solar installation training in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Pakistan: A citizen-led solar revolution

Pakistan may be one of the clearest examples of how an economic crisis can rapidly accelerate clean energy adoption.

Fossil fuels accounted for 79% of Pakistan’s primary energy supply in FY 2024, with over 40% of that fossil fuel demand met through imports. When global fuel prices surged after 2022, electricity tariffs rose by 155% between 2021 and 2024, while fossil fuel imports consumed 10.6% of the GDP in FY24.

That’s when citizens took matters into their own hands.

“Pakistan is often described as ground zero for the citizen solar revolution… it was a genuine market response to an ongoing crisis,” said Aamna Khaqan, NEX’s Accelerator Manager in Pakistan. “[The country] was essentially cornered into the solar revolution. It then actively chose it.”

According to a Renewables First report, distributed solar generation grew from nearly zero in FY17 to the equivalent of 46% of grid sales by FY25. By 2026, Pakistan had cumulatively imported more than 50 GW of solar PV, helping avoid an estimated US$12 billion in oil and gas imports and contributing to a 40% drop in fossil fuel imports between 2022 and 2024.

The transition, however, has also exposed major financing and equity gaps. With limited access to loans and formal financing products, many lower-income households remain locked out of the transition despite rising demand.

As a result, more than 7.3 million households have adopted solar since 2023, yet that still represents less than one-fifth of Pakistani households.

“[The consumers] absorb the technology risk, and they also have to navigate policy shifts,” Khaqan said. “So the risk does need to be redistributed… [through] blended finance structures, first loss guarantees, or different ways that the capital can be accessed.”

To help close these gaps, New Energy Nexus is working with Renewables First to strengthen Pakistan’s clean energy ecosystem through CLIP (Climate Innovation Pakistan) and New Energy Skills. CLIP supports climate startups in validating their products, testing solutions with real customers, and refining their go-to-market strategies, while also connecting them with mentors, pilots, and investors. Meanwhile, New Energy Skills complements this by expanding access to practical, job-ready training for installers and technicians, building the workforce needed to deliver solar deployment at scale.

Photo from a New Energy Skills solar training session in the Philippines.

The Philippines: Energy resilience across islands

In the Philippines, the energy crisis is amplified by geography. As an archipelago with fragmented island grids, disruptions in fuel prices and electricity supply ripple quickly across communities.

Rising electricity costs and concerns over energy security are now accelerating demand for distributed solar systems nationwide.

“People are not shifting to solar because it’s trendy,” said Brenda Valerio, NEX Philippines Country Director. “They’re shifting because they want lower electricity costs, more predictable expenses, and greater control over their energy supply.”

In a recent NEX Philippines survey, 28 solar installers reported an average 582% increase in customer inquiries compared to pre-crisis levels. But they are also facing significant bottlenecks as they struggle to meet this surge in demand. Installers noted widespread supply chain disruptions, delayed deliveries, workforce shortages, and increased market pressure from inexperienced new entrants.

The country’s decentralized geography compounds those challenges. Smaller solar companies operating outside major urban centers often struggle to access inventory, skilled labor, and financing as larger suppliers absorb the limited supply.

But as Valerio notes, the opportunity window exists. The question now is whether the country can build the workforce, the financing systems, and the local ecosystems before that window closes.

“If we actually do this right, the Philippines will not only be responding to the energy crisis that we are experiencing right now. We can actually use it as a catalyst to build a more resilient, inclusive, and decentralized energy future,” Valerio said.

With that in mind, NEX Philippines has supported the formation of regional and subregional solar trade associations, helping smaller installers coordinate workforce development, procurement, and policy engagement at the local level. It also has its own New Energy Skills program, training these installers to build quality, scalable solar careers and businesses.

Solar installation at Maw Poe Kay High School. Photo from SunSawang

Thailand: A solar workforce stepping up to rising demand

Thailand’s clean energy transition is being shaped by rising LNG price volatility, government incentives, and growing demand for rooftop solar from both households and businesses.

In response to energy price pressures, the Thai government introduced tax exemptions for rooftop solar, expanded feed-in tariff quotas, and launched soft-loan programs to support solar adoption. The result has been a rapid nationwide increase in demand.

“They created a boom in demand for rooftop solar nationwide,” said Kotchakorn (Build) Khwamchareon, Head of Programs at NEX Thailand.

But as installations rise, so do concerns around quality and workforce capacity. A NEX Thailand survey in April for an upcoming solar installation training program in Phuket drew three to four times the inquiries it would have received before the energy crisis.

“The market really sees the demand,” Khwamchareon said. “We really need more people joining the entrepreneur setting for the solar workforce.”

To help address that gap, NEX Thailand has already trained 250 solar entrepreneurs through its SolarStep program, combining technical and business training. The organization is now partnering with Thailand’s Ministry of Labor to launch a train-the-trainer initiative to rapidly expand the country’s qualified solar workforce.

Solar installation in Nigeria.

Nigeria: SMEs taking control of energy generation

In Nigeria, clean energy is increasingly becoming a business survival strategy. The country faces one of the world’s largest energy access gaps, with 90 million people lacking access to electricity and many businesses relying on expensive self-generation to operate.

Meanwhile, Nigerian SMEs spend a significant share of their operating costs on diesel for generators, while commercial areas regularly experience daily outages of 12–18 hours.

“We’re not competing with the grid,” said Ifeoma Malo, CEO and Co-founder of Clean Technology Hub, NEX’s partner in Nigeria. “We’re actually competing with diesel generators.”

As electricity costs rise, businesses are increasingly turning to solar and decentralized clean energy systems to stabilize operations and reduce fuel expenses.

“SMEs are not waiting for the grid. They are building around it,” Malo said. “People now realize… they have absolute control over how they generate [energy].”

Through PREPARED (Programme for Renewable Energy Preparedness, Acceleration & Readiness for Entrepreneurs and Distributors), NEX and Clean Technology Hub are supporting Nigerian clean energy entrepreneurs with financing readiness, market access, technical assistance, and investor connections.

The program has already engaged with 47 clean energy startups and helped power over 9,400 households. By 2028, the initiative aims to reach an estimated 50,000 households with clean power.

Building the ecosystems behind the transition

In these four countries, entrepreneurs are approaching the transition in different ways. But the requisites for scaling their solutions are similar: financing systems, workforce development, policy coordination, supply chains, and local ecosystem support that enable clean energy businesses to grow sustainably.

That is the work New Energy Nexus is focused on globally. NEX is helping build ecosystems in 13 countries worldwide, enabling entrepreneurs to scale solutions at a national and even global scale.

“We have wonderful SMEs and entrepreneurs on the ground that are moving faster than the incumbents.” NEX CEO Andrew Chang said during the webinar. “They’re more agile, they can get to work faster. They can really have an immediate impact in the communities that they’re operating in.”

Whether you’re an entrepreneur ready to scale your solutions or a funder wanting to get more involved in the transition, learn more about our programs here.

You can also listen to the full webinar recording below.

A young IT engineer inspects data center servers. Stock photo

Written by Wenxuan (Shane) Sun, Business Development & Program Director at New Energy Nexus China

As artificial intelligence (AI) tech progresses, data centers and intelligent computing facilities are becoming a new class of energy-intensive infrastructure. Globally, data centers consumed around 415 TWh of electricity in 2024, about 1.5% of global electricity demand, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that this could roughly double by 2030. The United States and China are expected to account for the majority of this growth.

This creates a critical question for the clean energy transition: will AI-driven computing become another source of grid stress, or can it become part of the solution?

For NEX China, this is the starting point of our work on computing-power coordination, or suan-dian xietong (算电协同) in Chinese, the coordination between computing demand and power system operation.

As we begin a new project to explore the challenges and opportunities in this space, we wanted to cover the basics and what it means for entrepreneurs.

What is computing-power coordination?

Computing-power coordination refers to the practice of aligning computing workloads with the availability, location, timing, and constraints of electricity supply.

In simple terms, not all computing tasks need to happen in the same place or at the same moment. Some workloads are highly time-sensitive, such as real-time financial transactions, autonomous driving, or emergency response systems. But others, including AI model training, batch data processing, rendering, simulation, and certain industrial AI tasks, may have more flexibility. They can potentially be shifted in time, shifted across locations, or adjusted according to grid conditions.

This matters because electricity systems are increasingly shaped by two simultaneous trends. On the supply side, more solar and wind power are entering the grid, but their output is variable. On the demand side, data centers and AI computing loads are growing rapidly, often becoming large, concentrated electricity consumers. This raises a question: when can computing loads function as flexible resources for the grid, rather than only as fixed demand?

The answer is not automatic. Computing loads are not inherently flexible. They only become useful to the power system when the right technical, commercial, and institutional conditions are in place. These include dispatch authority, service-level agreements, measurement methods, settlement rules, and clear responsibility among grid operators, data center operators, computing platforms, and energy users.

Why does this matter for the energy industry?

The energy sector is entering a new phase in which flexibility is as important as capacity.

Historically, power systems were designed around predictable demand and controllable generation. Today, the system must integrate variable renewable energy, electrified transport, distributed solar, batteries, industrial electrification, and now fast-growing digital infrastructure. AI data centers add a new layer of complexity: according to the IEA, AI-focused data center electricity consumption grew by 50% in 2025, while total data center electricity demand grew by 17%.

The challenge is not only the total amount of electricity consumed. It is also where, when, and how that demand appears. Data centers are large, concentrated, and often developed faster than energy infrastructure can be planned and built. The IEA notes that this mismatch between fast-moving data center development and slower-moving energy investment can create risks for grid planning, electricity prices, and system reliability.

Computing-power coordination offers a different lens. Instead of asking only how to supply more electricity to data centers, it asks whether some computing demand can be shaped to support the grid. A few examples:

• A data center could increase computing activity when local solar output is high and reduce or shift non-urgent workloads when the distribution grid is constrained.
• AI training tasks could be scheduled in regions and time windows with abundant renewable energy.
• Computing platforms could offer differentiated service levels, where users pay less for flexible computing tasks that can be delayed or relocated.
• Data centers with batteries, advanced energy management systems, and workload orchestration could participate in demand response or other flexibility markets.

This does not mean turning data centers into power plants; it means recognizing that digital infrastructure and energy infrastructure are becoming interdependent. The next generation of clean energy innovation will not only be about producing greener electrons, but also about designing smarter demand.

Why China?

China is one of the most important places to explore this question because it sits at the intersection of three global trends: rapid growth in AI infrastructure, massive deployment of renewable energy, and real-world grid integration challenges.

China’s total computing power scale already ranks second globally, and by the end of 2023, the country had more than 8.1 million data center racks in use. China’s government has also set clear green data center targets, including lowering the average data center PUE to below 1.5 by 2025 and increasing data center renewable energy utilization by 10% annually.

But China is not only building large data center clusters. It is also facing a very practical distributed energy challenge. County-scale rooftop solar programs and distributed renewables have expanded rapidly in many regions, creating new stress on local distribution grids. In these contexts, renewable generation is often location-bound, while computing loads remain largely inflexible.

This makes China a valuable “stress test” environment. Lessons from China can not be copied directly to Europe, Southeast Asia, or other markets, but they can help answer questions that many systems will soon face: How should grids coordinate with new digital loads? What kinds of computing demand are truly flexible? How should flexibility be measured and rewarded? Where do technical possibilities break down because institutions, contracts, or market rules are not ready?

What can entrepreneurs do?

Entrepreneurs play an important role because computing power coordination is not a single technology. It is an emerging system innovation field that requires new tools, platforms, services, and business models.

Entrepreneurs can develop workload orchestration tools that classify computing tasks by urgency, location sensitivity, carbon intensity, and grid impact. They can build energy-aware AI infrastructure. This may include software that links AI training schedules with renewable energy availability, electricity prices, grid congestion signals, or carbon intensity data. They can also develop measurement and verification systems. Without credible measurement, it is impossible to prove that computing loads have provided real grid value. In addition, there is space for new commercial models: flexible computing contracts, green computing products, demand response aggregation for data centers, carbon-aware cloud services, and location-aware computing marketplaces.

NEX China’s approach is therefore deliberately hypothesis-driven and simulation-based, focusing on decision-useful learning before large-scale deployment. Follow us to stay updated on our findings here.

Wenxuan (Shane) Sun has extensive experience in China’s wind and renewable energy markets, both within the industry and through market consulting.