Strengthening Power System Planning and Modelling Interoperability for Cross-Border Interconnection in South and South-East Asia

Project description

Through this project, Climate Lead Group supported UN ESCAP in two ways. The first was to build OSTRAM, an open capacity-expansion model of the interconnected South Asian power system based on OSeMOSYS, designed as an analytical tool that ESCAP can operate and extend rather than as a substitute for national or utility planning. The model was used to explore contrasting long-term pathways for the region, including a calibrated business-as-usual case, a least-cost regional pathway, and a national-pledges pathway, together with sensitivity tests on cost and trade assumptions, and the results were documented in a consolidated scenario report accompanied by training materials. The second was a review of the cross-border power modelling landscape across four Asian subregions, which compared tools, scenarios, data access, institutional ownership, and policy uptake on the basis of a verified source register. The scenario work indicated that regional coordination is materially cheaper than a business-as-usual path, supports a faster shift toward renewables, and lowers emissions. The review found that modelling influences policy only where a mandated regional body owns and maintains the model, which is precisely the condition that OSTRAM aims to help ESCAP work toward.