Establishing Multilateral Power Trade in ASEAN |
Findings and recommendations |
Figure 3. Data and information sharing: Private versus public
Regional data: Public
Available |
Regional data: Private |
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capacity |
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Cross-border |
Dispatch |
National data: Private |
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power flows |
schedules |
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Generation |
Contract information |
Critical infrastructure |
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specific bids and |
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Average prices |
offers |
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Source: IEA 2019. All rights reserved.
Institutional requirements
Finally, as noted above, international experiences show that multilateral trading and regional integration more broadly are best supported by regional institutions. In an ASEAN context in particular, additional institutional arrangements will be necessary to establish full multilateral trading in the region. This will include both additional capacity building at existing institutions, and potentially the development of new institutions. Some of these new institutional arrangements will go to support functions such as a settlement and payment mechanism and a dispute resolution mechanism.
Building upon existing efforts
Though there is much work to be done to establish full multilateral trading among the AMS, ASEAN is hardly starting from scratch. Two subregional efforts in particular are worth highlighting: the Lao PDR–Thailand–Malaysia–Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS– PIP) and the integration effort in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
LTMS–PIP
The LTMS–PIP is a “pathfinder” project that is meant to demonstrate that multilateral power trading is possible in an ASEAN context. As it stands today, the LTMS–PIP involves the sale of electricity from Lao PDR to Malaysia, with Thailand acting as a transit, or wheeling, country.
The LTMS–PIP has demonstrated that power trading among multiple AMS is possible. What remains to be seen is whether it can be expanded to include more than three countries, and generalised to allow for multidirectional trading among any set of participants. Nevertheless, much of the work done under LTMS–PIP is relevant for establishing a general framework for multilateral trading in the region. For example, the LTMS–PIP includes a wheeling charge methodology that could become the basis for a harmonised regional model.
The process of developing the LTMS–PIP has also been instructive. It involved the establishment of separate working groups that gave each of the stakeholders a role in developing the power trade, even if, in the end, they chose not to participate. This sharing of
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