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ABB’s survey reveals Malaysian businesses pouring more CAPEX into energy transition, betting on AI, automation and digitalisation while facing rising cyber risks and the need for stronger public–private collaboration.
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00:00Malaysia's new energy transition is speeding up and technology is right at the center with
00:14ABB's new survey shows 70% of companies believe AI automations and digitalizations are the key
00:21drivers of a low-carbon future and also most businesses from the survey showing are already
00:28investing more than 10% of their care backs for energy transitions and also nearly 80% expect
00:34their renewable energy to rise sharply the next five years but also we know alongside progress
00:40comes also with risks and especially in cybersecurity and what are some of the gaps in private and public
00:46partnership or even we can say collaborations and to discuss further with me with me now from ABB is
00:53Abi Hari Kumar Vice President of ABB's Energy Industries Division Southeast Asia how are you Abi good thank
01:00you thank you so much for having me today all right no worries thank you so much for joining me maybe
01:04we can talk about the recent surveys of ABB before we jump in into the survey maybe you can share with
01:10us what is ABB excellent well thank you look ABB we are a global technology provider and we've been
01:17around for over 130 years we have an employee base of over 105,000 employees and we operate in over 100
01:26countries around the world specifically the division or business that I work for is the energy industries
01:34division of ABB so we serve customers and industries right across from oil gas chemicals power sector life
01:42sciences and water so we work right across the board to bring new solutions and service within that
01:48industry maybe share with us ABB's new survey in terms of we are seeing a lot of companies most
01:57organization is taking a look at AI on automation and especially in energy transition power by AI and
02:05energy can you explain to us what is the purpose of the survey yeah so we are we decided to undertake
02:12an energy transition readiness index a survey basically to do a little bit of a stock take of where we are as
02:20an industry where we are as a sector towards making progress in the energy transition journey towards a
02:25net-zero future so we thought this is a very good moment in time to undertake this after you know
02:31undergoing through this journey for several years so we wanted to get a feel for what what industry
02:36leaders are saying so we decided to undertake this survey and from the survey shows that 71% of
02:43Malaysians business side AI and automations as a key of energy transition usually what are actually
02:51happening on the ground especially when the context AI use case absolutely look firstly I would like to say I
02:58mean technology is starting to play more and more of a heavy role in forming the energy transition and
03:03serving as a little bit of a catalyst to make the transition move faster AI we all know has been
03:09developing at a rapid pace so what we are doing with ABB is to incorporate AI into our automation systems
03:17to make them smarter to make decision-making easier but at the end of the day the goal is to save energy and
03:25enable our customers and industry to operate much more leaner and cleaner in malicious context what are
03:33the biggest AI gap and taking a look at malicious speed are we investing fast enough comparing to our
03:42region neighbors like Singapore even from the South Korea I think what the study showed is that our
03:49companies leaders are putting aside capital right towards driving energy transition projects so this
03:55capital I think the survey showed that at least 10% of their capex is being put aside to drive these
04:01projects forward now the big question is what can we do with that money to fast track it how can we
04:07incorporate technology how can we incorporate AI to make smarter decision an example I can easily give you
04:14as well is we all know that green energy is going to be added more and more to the grid but we also
04:19know that even at 2050 when we need reach our net zero goals here in Malaysia 30% is still going to come
04:26from traditional energy sources so we cannot forget the existing industries that are there at the moment
04:31and what can we do to make those industries run more efficient right now so an example of that that at ABB we
04:39are bringing to our customers is through our solution with asset performance management through our ABB
04:44ability GenX platform so what this essentially is is we put smart smart sensors right across the fleet in
04:52you know power station and refineries etc and that data that comes back our system using AI can analyze
05:00the data and predict when things are going to fail it can also give you indication of which of the
05:06equipment perhaps is not operating at the efficiency levels that it can and it can help drive decisions
05:11to increase that efficiency now the beauty of this is when you increase efficiency of course there's a
05:16cost benefit but we also decarbonize and what I mean by that is the greenest form of energy that you can
05:23use is the energy that you don't use right so that's so that's the beauty of this so so that's one example
05:28of how we are using AI and technology to make our existing operations leaner and cleaner correct to
05:36increase efficiency in productivity that is a very essential elements and also talking about on
05:43capex and industry readiness where you mentioned also from the survey showing most of the companies
05:50already investing 10% for the capex into energy transitions and within helping the industry and from the
05:57their readiness level of fees which sectors are leading and which sectors are lagging so what I can
06:04say is yet it's quite a bit of capital that's being put aside the leading industries are definitely in oil
06:10and gas power generators as well so there's a lot of money there the big question now is how can we use
06:15that money to really drive good outcomes right in terms of decarbonization customers meeting their
06:22sustainability agenda so the money is there so what we would like to do is engage early on the piece
06:28to come up with solutions that can really provide the necessary return return on investment so we have
06:36examples where you know we have worked very early to bring our advanced process control solution into a
06:42refinery to basically optimize the steel you up the steam usage right and what this has allowed is our
06:50customers being able to have a return of investment less than one year which is extremely fast and
06:56significant amount of cost saving per year on a yearly basis right so these are sort of projects that
07:02we have to look at to drive and to really use that 10% capital to get the best what we call our bang for
07:09the buck right so is that 10% enough for Malaysia to meet the national energy transition roadmap for 2030 and 2050 or
07:18obviously have a lot to do I think look the things what first thing is what can we do with that 10% right before we can
07:26answer that question let's really utilize that funds that is available there to drive meaningful solution once we start
07:33generating the return of investment we start scaling up the benefits of existing operation we start bringing on green energy sources and then we start building from there
07:41and also this is a very important phase to make sure they understand where are we going where are the transitioning from start till the end of our efforts
07:54efforts but also I want to take a look on cyber security and the OT risk operational technology risk that we talked before this discussion
08:03with 93% claiming they are prepared prepared but how confident should we be in Malaysia for energy cyber security and what is ABB assessment of the real level risk
08:19yeah so I think I think I think cyber security is one of those areas that is constantly evolving in terms of threats now with the increased usage of AI as well
08:28so I think it's extremely critical that we continue to monitor those risks come across as an industry so recently ABB in Malaysia itself we
08:37partnered with Petronas Pinsa community to bring bring 60 of our end users into the ABB office and we spoke about this very topic
08:47because ITOT are starting to converge what we ended up doing is sharing our best practices in terms of risk assessment in cyber security
08:56and one of the key things I say I think cyber security is one of those areas that's becoming a little bit like the traditional safety
09:02where there are no secrets in safety I think we need to get that mindset there are no secrets in cyber security we need to work as a community
09:09to really utilize the best practices now in terms of ABB we have a cyber security portfolios of solutions which really helps customers bring together different systems
09:20and have it in one place where we can analyze the cyber security health of the various systems that can be deployed which makes it easy for end users
09:28but we also have solutions that enable us to undertake proactive threat detection as well network health so that we are constantly bringing these technologies
09:40as to make the entire ecosystem more secure
09:43and from your observation throughout the survey throughout the findings and collaborations with public and private organizations
09:50what are the weakest link for malicious digital digitalizations energy digitalizations is it the people the process or even the outdated tech
10:02I would more turn that into one of the biggest opportunities that we see right so I think I think it's a mix of things
10:08so again we always have been talking about collaboration being a key to drive energy transition now what we mean by that it's a mix
10:14I mean when you look at the workforce of the future the green workforce that we need we need to start investing in that today
10:21so from an ABB perspective we have a great partnership with the University of Patronus that's ongoing to really develop that future talent
10:27so that that's one piece right the other piece as well is really looking at utilizing the existing technology available today
10:35to evaluate the feasibility of some of the projects and concepts that's available out there
10:42for example we have digital twin is something that's utilized heavily and we have global partnerships around the world
10:49that enable us to model a particular operation or technology prior to the project moving ahead
10:55so this the this enables I guess the project team to basically evaluate risk how things are going to behave
11:03and also the return of investment that can be there as well
11:06so it's a combination of of things but the important thing is to get around the table and start discussing you know
11:13where are the opportunities that's going to allow us to fast track that transition
11:16we have been talking a lot about AI automations and and all these studies surveys and the impact towards people organizations
11:25but I want also add on the energy transition maybe emphasize more on this we know that solar solar people are expected to lead the transition
11:34but hydropower, hydrogen and also wind is gaining traction and we know that it's globally it's happening
11:41but for Malaysia context what realistically will dominate Malaysia's mixed energy maybe in the next decade
11:50I think it's a very difficult thing that one source is going to dominate right it's going to we need to be open to a range of energy sources to fuel the demand
11:57what I can say in Malaysia is that again that hunger for energy is continuing to rise you know we can all agree on that
12:03so it's going to be a mix of sources that's going to come into the grid
12:07and we're moving more and more towards you know having a centralized way of generating power to a more decentralized network
12:14that adds complexity so now we're talking about infrastructure that needs to be smart to enable the incorporation of renewable energy sources into the grid
12:24so again from an ABB perspective we are having early discussions to see how can we manage that ecosystem effectively
12:35through technology solutions that we have such as ABB Optimax for example which allows us to model solar coming into the grid
12:43whether to use a solar power or whether we use the grid for an end user so that that ability to react based on you know
12:52weather data that's out there or pricing of electricity to make smarter decisions to make sure it's cost effective
12:58but also to reduce energy at the end of the day so it's going to be I'm very excited to see what the next 10 years is right
13:05what the grid is going to look like it's going to be very different to what it is today
13:08Correct and we have a lot of work to do now and also we need more push and more support from the whole phase from the whole public-private
13:16the whole nation approach but specifically on from this service also talks about where 63% of organizations want stronger government incentive
13:26but what specific industry urgently need for from this incentive?
13:31Look from an ABB perspective we're not the best place to advise on policy but what I can say it's always going to be a balance of a sticks and carrot approach right
13:40where we offer incentives or you know there's some sort of penalties that that's a balance that the governments and other people need to make
13:48but given the regulatory frameworks policies that's there we are very very keen to see how can technology support that transition right
13:56and that's that's where we're going to play a more and more active role in Malaysia
14:00all right Abby baby my last questions what is ABB next upcoming big project for 2025 we're ending to 25 share with us straight for 2026
14:10I know time is flying look we're working with multiple customers right across Malaysia to obviously build renewable projects
14:19there's no question about that through our automation digital and electrical integration into these projects
14:24but we're also working heavily with existing existing infrastructure that's there to make them operate a lot cleaner by modernizing the existing systems
14:36you know this could be as simple as upgrading a motor to a more efficient motor instantly gaining vision again
14:42but it also involves us upgrading the automation system within these plants
14:46because by upgrading it and bringing it to the latest technology it allows us to add digital solutions
14:52that are becoming more and more available and that's going to allow us take that next step forward towards getting to that net zero journey
15:00definitely that journey ABB's finding also make one thing kill
15:04AI automations and strong collaboration will decide our energy future moving forward
15:10again I want to say thank you very much to our guest Bihari Koma
15:14Vice President of ABB's Energy Industry Division Southeast Asia
15:18we are very excited for the next upcoming project again we say thank you very much
15:23and we can see that a malicious energies transition is moving but the next leap will depend on how fast we adopt technology and how well we protect it
15:34definitely all of the discussion here will be featured in astrooneer.com and across all social media platform and that's it for me
15:40I'm Nina Roswan see you next time
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