The tropical countries economy is still mainly based on agriculture and the agro-industrial sector. Several of these countries are among the worldwide top ten in agriculture production such as rice, sugar cane, palm oil, coconut or processed wood exporting countries. All these agro and wood industries generate large quantities of residues. So far, the share of these residues used for heat or power generation is very limited, and when they are used, for self generation, the energy efficiency is very low, since their is no solvent demand for extra energy, and no incentives for private power generation. Some others, mainly wood industries are still runing diesel for their power production. A detailed investigation of electricity consumption in the world shows the level of tropical countries and particularly ASIA in a world wide scale. In a figure, plotting electricity consumption versus population, North America and Europe are at the top. Tropical countries are at the bottom. However, they have the greatest potential in increasing capacity rates and especially South East ASIAN countries which are enjoying among the largest economic growth rates in the world resulting in an ever increasing demand for energy. Modern and proven technologies for the processing and converting of biomass residues, combining efficiency and environment protection are available and could be increasingly used for private power generation in tropical countries. The objective of this paper is to draw up a picture of biomass resources available through agroindustries and wood industries and discuss the opportunities for private power generation considering the best technologies available. South East ASEAN region will be considered as a case study. Indeed, biomass contributes to about 20% of ASEAN industry primary energy demand and if fully utilized, the residues generated by the five sectors (rice, sugar, palmoil, coconut and wood) would represent almost 100% of conventional primary energy industry