(EnergyAsia, September 7 2012, Friday) — Asia’s three largest economies share a common threat from increasingly insufficient and unreliable domestic power supplies to meet demand growth.

For now, Japan and India, the region’s second and third largest economies, are the most threatened as companies have been forced to reduce or shut down operations with the possibility that they may leave altogether.

China’s power supply problems are not as severe yet as the country continues to invest heavily in building up its power generation and grid infrastructure.

Having suffered the world’s worst and biggest power blackout on July 31 and August 1, India must work hard to regain investor confidence that it can and will implement reforms to provide stable and reliable power supply. Businesses and analysts are not convinced as the government has not shown it has the political strength and will to make tough reform decisions. Japan’s fears are just as severe as it must find long-term replacement for its nuclear power plants.

India suffered a huge blow to its long-term economic prospects and international reputation with last month’s massive power blackouts shutting down electricity supply to more than half its 1.2-billion population for at least two days. The blackout enveloping almost the entire northern half of the country including the capital city of New Delhi was far more widespread and devastating than many industry insiders and business executives had been warning for months as the country’s power supply progressively shut down.

The full version of this story is available in the September 2012 issue of EnergyAsia Report.