By Matthew Wittenstein, Kieran Clarke and Yejin Ha*
BANGKOK | 16 July 2025 (IDN) — The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) is a key cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s strategy for greater regional integration, energy security economic growth and achieving a sustainable, low-carbon future.
With the region’s energy demand projected to more than double by 2050 and renewable energy resources unevenly distributed across countries, the need for an integrated and resilient power system is clear.
Discussions surrounding the APG have historically focused on its techno-economic advantages and feasibility, emphasizing benefits like reduced system costs, enhanced grid stability and lower carbon emissions. While these advantages are significant, this narrow lens risks overlooking the multidimensional socioeconomic and environmental impacts that power connectivity can bring.
From job creation and local infrastructure development to gender equality and social inclusion, the broader effects of cross-border electricity trade and transmission infrastructure deserve more focused attention. By building a more comprehensive understanding of these impacts, ASEAN can better design, plan and prioritize power connectivity initiatives in ways that maximize societal benefit and support inclusive, sustainable development.
The traditional metrics used to evaluate power connectivity projects often stem from cost-benefit analyses (CBAs), power system optimization models and least-cost planning studies. These methodologies assess the financial viability of projects by comparing investment costs to system-level benefits, such as reduced generation costs, increased electricity access and enhanced reliability.
Regional intergration
For example, recent modeling of the APG initiative showed that greater regional integration could lower the region’s electricity costs by billions of dollars annually. Similarly, a renewable integration study emphasized that interconnections can help reduce decarbonization costs by USD 800 billion.
Power infrastructure can also bring significant catalytic gains, rarely analyzed in existing research or in formal project evaluations. For rural communities, new transmission corridors often involve the construction of roads and related infrastructure, improving mobility, trade and access to services. Moreover, if planned inclusively, power connectivity projects can create jobs across a range of skill levels and promote gender equality.
Despite growing recognition of these broader benefits, empirical research on the wider economic, social and environmental impacts of power connectivity in South-East Asia remains limited. Some studies have begun to explore these dimensions. For example, one analysis indicates that developing 30 GW of new solar and wind capacity could create approximately 182,000 jobs in manufacturing, installation and maintenance.
Another study concluded that regional connectivity in the region could reduce air pollution by approximately half, preventing an estimated 15,000 premature deaths annually. To advance more inclusive planning and policymaking, ASEAN could benefit from a framework that systematically captures the multidimensional impacts of power connectivity projects. Such a framework would go beyond traditional economic models and integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including for example:
- Socioeconomic Impact Assessments (SEIAs): Often used in infrastructure projects, SEIAs evaluate the potential effects on livelihoods, employment, education, health and social dynamics.
- Gender Impact Analysis: Tools such as gender audits or gender-responsive budgeting can help identify how women and men are affected by infrastructure development.
- Life Cycle Assessment: Evaluates the environmental impacts of a project throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal.
Green Power Corridor
Additionally, integrating stakeholder consultations and community engagement into the assessment process can help overcome key data collection challenges while ensuring the inclusion of different sectoral perspectives.
ESCAP has begun developing an approach to capture the multisectoral costs and benefits of power connectivity projects through the Green Power Corridor (GPC) Framework, which includes tools and metrics to assess the alignment of power connectivity projects with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The GPC metrics enable a more granular understanding of how energy infrastructure could impact not only SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) but all relevant SDGs, including gender equality, education, decent work and climate action. The GPC Framework aims to offer a shared analytical foundation for policymakers, financiers and communities to assess and prioritize power connectivity projects, while aligning with broader SDGs.
South-East Asia’s energy future will benefit greatly from bold investments in regional interconnection and cooperation. But the success of power connectivity projects should not be measured by megawatts and cost savings alone. Social equity, gender inclusion, environmental sustainability and rural development are equally important metrics of success.
By embracing a more holistic approach to planning and evaluation, ASEAN policymakers can make a stronger, more compelling case for cross-border power connectivity, not just as a technical fix for supply-demand imbalances, but as a driver of regional prosperity, social progress and environmental resilience.
As the ASEAN community looks ahead to its post-2025 Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation and the signing of the Enhanced APG Memorandum of Understanding, there is an opportunity to embed this multidimensional perspective into future infrastructure planning strategies. Doing so will require not only improved data and methodologies, but also a shift in focus, from what power connectivity can do for the grid to what it can do for people and communities.
*Matthew Wittenstein is Chief of Energy Connectivity Section, ESCAP; Kieran Clarke is Energy Connectivity Expert, ESCAP and Yejin Ha is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP [IDN-InDepth News]
Image: An illuminated highway at dusk in Hanoi, Vietnam. With a growing demand for power, South-East Asia needs a well-connected power grid to ensure seamless supply of electricity. Credit: Pexels/Quang Nguyen Vin