A new Singapore-based industry group is coming to life in an effort to help promote wind energy across the Asian continent.

The Asia Wind Energy Association says that it hopes to leverage the momentum already found within the sector on the continent.

“The market is actually growing quite rapidly in the different countries (in Asia) but there’s no one platform where developers, equipment suppliers and financial institutions can come together,” AsiaWEA Cofounder Edgare Kerkwijk explained in comments to the Singapore-based Business Times. “Here in Asia all the countries have their own ideas about what will be good policy for the wind sector, and we see that a lot more coordination needs to be done. Certainly a lot of training and support can be done.”

While there is a wide base of wind energy in the Asia Pacific Region, nearly all of it is centralized. According to Windpower Monthly, the 181 gigawatts of wind energy in the region are mostly in China, which represents 80 percent of installs. In addition, 98 percent of wind energy in the region is produced in four countries: China, India, Australia, and Japan.

Kerkwijk, the managing director of Asia Green Capital Partners, emphasized to SeeNews Renewables that AsiaWEA—which plans to hold its first annual meeting in October 2017—is working on the problem.

“Our mission is to establish and promote wind power as the solution to the region’s rapidly growing energy demand and environmental challenges, providing meaningful benefits to the region as a whole,” he added.

Ironically, Business Times notes, Singapore itself does not have any wind-energy plants. So why base it there? Simple: Many of the companies active in the wind-energy space are headquartered in the city-state.

AsiaWEA is currently accepting membership applications and will hold quarterly gatherings for its members, starting in January.

(iStock/Thinkstock)