Asia has moved to the centre of the global electricity system. The region generates more than half the world's power, has accounted for most of the growth in electricity demand since 2000, and electrified faster than Europe or North America over the past decade.
Its advantage is industrial rather than resource-based: the region holds a small share of oil and gas reserves but produces the large majority of the world's solar panels, batteries and wind turbines. Falling costs for solar-plus-storage and electric vehicles are now reinforcing that position.
The analysis frames the next phase around three moves - deploying renewables, electrifying transport and industry, and exporting electrotech - and argues that oil-import exposure is the main vulnerability those moves address.