Renewable curtailment in Asia Pacific: solving for flexibility

The rising share of variable renewable energy (VRE) sources, including wind and solar, in power grids across Asia Pacific is increasing curtailment. Countries where renewables account for more than 10% of total generation on average, such as Australia (27%), China (22%), India (17%) and Japan (12%), are growing vulnerable to curtailment of 2% to 8% as of 2025. As the VRE share expands by another 20% to 50% in these countries over the next five years, it will further stress grids which are unable to keep pace with renewable capacity additions. In this insight, we review the renewable curtailment in these four Asia Pacific markets to analyse each market’s risk profile along with upcoming reforms and mitigation strategies.