GGI Asia-Pacific Working Group (APWG)

Established in August 2021 and led by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the GGI Asia-Pacific Working Group (the ‘APWG’) seeks to accelerate prioritised continental and regional transmission grid programmes and projects in the Asia-Pacific region. This will facilitate the following outcomes:

Open-sourced and accessible modelling for regional and continental transmission routes: it is possible to bring global and regional datasets together in a coordinated way to enable country analysts to undertake modelling and assessment of priority transmission routes quickly without getting caught up in proprietary issues. In collaboration with key actors, including the UK’s Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) team and their OSeMOSYS Global modelling tool, the APWG can help to develop the necessary open-source datasets to technoeconomic and financial analysis, as a public good.

Resilient grids: transmission grids that enable the scale up of renewable energy generation across the Asia-Pacific region, and support progression to universal access to reliable, modern energy services. This also includes expanding digitalisation and harnessing new technologies to enhance power system flexibility.

Enhanced implementation capacity: access to financing, technical assistance and collaborative research, design and development (RD&D) resources to ensure that programmes and projects that facilitate resilient grids are realised in shorter timeframes than would otherwise be possible. This will be complemented by enabling regulatory frameworks; electricity trading arrangements and market designs; business models and associated financing instruments; as well as power system approaches;

Sustained political and stakeholder support: achieving results that contribute to ESCAP’s power connectivity programming and ADB’s regional renewable energy integration projects, amongst others. To secure the support of all key stakeholders. A key feature of this approach is the accelerated development and implementation of ongoing transmission grid integration programmes and projects, noting the requirement to avoid duplication.