Asian Electricity Data Transparency

This report by Ember evaluates the availability, quality, and transparency of timely electricity data across various countries in Asia and Oceania. It establishes a scoring framework based on eight criteria—including time granularity, fuel breakdown, and ease of access—to rank national data sources and identify gaps that hinder the tracking of the energy transition.

• The report identifies a significant lack of regional data transparency, noting that "there is no single timely, region-wide Asian electricity data source". The region is critical to the global energy transition as it "Generates 47% of global electricity" and "Generates 75% of Global coal power".
• India and Australia are among the highest-scoring countries for data transparency. India's data is described as covering "the majority of criteria, minor improvements could be made", with the National Power Portal acting as a "single portal through which most data can be downloaded". Australia also covers "the majority of criteria", featuring "Hourly real-time data... available from OpenNEM".
• China's electricity data is rated as "Insufficient" because it "misses key criteria". Specific issues include a lack of real-time data, the absence of "reliable solar generation" in monthly data, and the fact that "monthly and annual data do not reconcile well for thermal generation".
• Several countries are rated as having "Poor quality or no timely data available". This includes Indonesia, where the highest granularity is "annual data, with an 8 month lag", Vietnam, where data is "hugely inconsistent", Malaysia, where national data has a "two year lag", Singapore, and Mongolia.
• Japan's data transparency is rated as "Insufficient". While hourly data exists, the "most timely data doesn’t split fossil data by fuel" and "Dataset consistency is poor", with discrepancies between sources like Enecho and renewables-ei.
• The report utilizes a specific eight-point scoring criteria to assess data quality, prioritizing "Real-time data, to highest time granularity", "full breakdown by fuel type", "Sub-national generation data", "Unit-level generation data", and "Ease of access: Free, Easy to download, English".

APA

Graham, E., & Tunbridge, P. (2020). Asian Electricity Data Transparency. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/11/Asian-Data-Transparency-Report.pdf

Chicago

Graham, Euan, and Pete Tunbridge. Asian Electricity Data Transparency. Ember, 2020. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/11/Asian-Data-Transparency-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Graham |first1=Euan |last2=Tunbridge |first2=Pete |title=Asian Electricity Data Transparency |publisher=Ember |date=26 November 2020 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/11/Asian-Data-Transparency-Report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{graham2020asian, author = {Graham, Euan and Tunbridge, Pete}, title = {{Asian Electricity Data Transparency}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/11/Asian-Data-Transparency-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }