ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS) III Phase 3: Minimum Requirements for Multilateral Power Trade in ASEAN

The ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS) III Phase 3 Report on Minimum Technical Standards for Interconnections provides a comprehensive regional framework for harmonising the minimum technical requirements for interconnections across the region to ensure seamless integration and operation of the ASEAN Power Grid (APG). In part 3 of the 4 AIMS III Phase 3 reports, it reveals that harmonising the minimum technical standards for interconnections through a phased approach, starting from voluntary subregional guidelines, is essential to maintain system stability, facilitate increased multilateral power trade, and ensure the reliable integration of renewable energy sources across borders. The report was prepared by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), with the support of the United Nations Office for Project Services programme for Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP-UNOPS), Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy (CASE) for Southeast Asia, and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), under the APG Advancement Program (APG-AP)

The ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS) III Phase 3 Report on ASEAN-wide Integrated Resource and Resilience Planning (IRRP) introduces a comprehensive framework designed to evolve traditional energy planning into a more adaptive and forward-looking regional strategy. The second part of the four AIMS III Phase 3 reports highlights the areas where ASEAN can enhance grid resilience, optimise cross-border investments, and achieve collective energy security in an increasingly complex energy landscape, by transitioning from isolated national efforts to a unified, probabilistic resiliency approach to regional planning. The report was prepared by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), with the support of the United Nations Office for Project Services programme for Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP-UNOPS), Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy (CASE) for Southeast Asia, and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), under the APG Advancement Program (APG-AP)

This report examines the limitations of the GDP-centric development model that continues to guide electricity planning across Southeast Asia, with a focus on Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand and the Philippines. While these economies have expanded generation rapidly and achieved near-universal electricity access, the report finds that electricity planning remains largely oriented towards aggregate growth and industrial output. Using a Decent Living Standards framework, it estimates the minimum level of electricity required to secure basic well-being and shows that the central challenge is often not insufficient generation capacity, but the way electricity is allocated and priced. The report concludes with a policy toolkit to help reorient electricity governance from aggregate growth towards sufficiency. 

This report examines how interconnectors are approached today from the financing and business model perspective. It explores how, in combination with broad macro‑financial and market‑specific factors, current approaches may create challenges given the size and characteristics of the APG project pipeline. Rather than focussing on institutions or regulatory frameworks, this report approaches the issue through an investor’s lens – asking how these assets are financed in practice and what must change to make them bankable for a wide set of potential investors.

ASEAN region is experiencing unprecedented warming trends with increasingly severe extreme heat events which can reach 38 degree Celcius in major ASEAN cities by 2050. Everyone is at risk, but not equally. Vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly, and low income communities, are disproportionately affected with gender deepening existing inequalities. As extreme heat intensifies, rising demand for cooling drives up electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions and creating a vicious cycle. 

To address this, the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (through the Cool Coalition and EmPower: Women for Climate Resilient Societies Programme) have developed a roadmap to promote passive cooling strategies, presenting key recommendations that can be adopted by ASEAN Member States to scale up passive cooling solutions and foster more resilient cities in the region.