The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing a $10-million technical assistance (TA) grant to jump-start its newly launched Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative, a flagship regional program aimed at expanding cross-border electricity trade and accelerating renewable energy (RE) integration across Asia and the Pacific.

The Manila-based multilateral lender disclosed last June 3 that the proposed regional knowledge and support TA will be up for approval this year.

The grant will support the identification and preparation of cross-border power projects, strengthen institutional capacity, as well as promote greater regional cooperation and integration in the energy sector under the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative. It will cover ADB developing member countries (DMCs) where the lender has active operations, including its host country, the Philippines, subject to the consent of participating governments.

According to the ADB, the Asia-Pacific region has become the center of global electricity demand and emissions, yet power systems across the region remain fragmented, with cross-border energy exchange still limited. While electricity production has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, much of it continues to be fueled by coal, complicating efforts to transition toward cleaner energy sources, it pointed out.

The ADB noted that around 155 million people in developing Asia still lack access to electricity, while hundreds of millions more face unreliable or unaffordable power supply. It added that electricity demand is expected to continue growing sharply through 2050, increasing the need for stronger regional cooperation and interconnected power systems.

The lender further noted that the region possesses vast and complementary RE resources, including hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, as well as natural gas. However, it said the lack of interconnected grids, harmonized regulations, as well as market-ready institutions has prevented countries from fully trading clean energy across borders and sharing reserve capacity.

The ADB said the upcoming TA will help create a pipeline of bankable cross-border power projects while supporting regulatory harmonization, technical interoperability, financing mobilization, supply-chain resilience, and institutional capacity-building needed to expand regional electricity trade.

The forthcoming TA financing will provide the technical, policy, and institutional groundwork needed to transform the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative from a long-term vision into a pipeline of investable regional energy projects, according to the ADB.

To recall, ADB president Masato Kanda unveiled the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative during the lender’s 59th annual meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, last May.

Kanda had said the Pan-Asia Power Grid aims to mobilize as much as $50 billion to connect national and subregional grids, enabling countries to trade electricity across borders as well as accelerate RE integration into their power systems.

The initiative is expected to integrate about 20 gigawatts (GW) of RE across borders, connect around 22,000 circuit-kilometers (ckm) of transmission lines, and improve energy access for up to 200 million people.

Asked by Manila Bulletin whether the planned Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Power Grid would become part of the broader Pan-Asia Power Grid, Kanda had noted that the ADB had already committed $10 billion to the ASEAN initiative and described it as an important component of the wider regional power network.

The Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative forms part of the ADB’s broader plan to mobilize $70 billion by 2035 for energy and digital connectivity projects across the region.