Greater Mekong Subregion

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GMS Energy Officials and Experts Hold Back-to-back Meetings in Hanoi, Viet Nam to Review Power Interconnection Plans and to Finalize Power Trade Arrangements in the GMS (December 2001)

Energy experts and officials from the six countries comprising the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) met in Hanoi, Viet Nam from 13 to 19 December for the back-to-back energy meetings under the GMS program. The meetings, namely, the Sixth Meeting of the Experts Group on Power Interconnection and Trade (EGP-6), and the Eighth Meeting of the Subregional Electric Power Forum (EPF-8), were jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam (SRV) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The EGP-6 meeting reviewed the Draft Final Report of the Study on the Regional Indicative Master Plan on Power Interconnection in the GMS (the "Master Plan Study), which was undertaken to harmonize the subregion's transmission planning and operational practices to promote power trade. The EGP-6 agreed that after consideration of comments, which mainly concerned power demand/ supply options, transmission development scenarios, institutional/ regulatory issues, and financing, the Master Plan Study would be finalized in the EGP-7 meeting in mid-2002 in Bangkok. The EGP-6 meeting also reviewed and finalized the revised work plan for 2002-2005, which was generally in relation to implementation of the GMS Policy Statement on Regional Power Trade ("Policy Statement"). Since the GMS Ministers endorsed the Policy Statement during the 9th Ministerial Conference (Manila, January 2000), the EGP has spearheaded the conduct of workshops to facilitate power interconnection and trade with the assistance of the World Bank. Two workshops have already been held, which dealt with the institutional, regulatory and commercial aspects of power interconnection. The third workshop, on financing issues, was held in the same venue right after the EGP-6 and EPF-8 meetings, from 17 to 19 December 2001.

For EPF-8, each GMS country presented developments in their power sector policies and generation and transmission programs, which enabled each country to check on the consistency of their power development plans, with the plans for subregional power interconnection and trade. The EPF meeting also undertook a thorough review of the Inter-Government Agreement on Power Trade (IGA-PT). The IGA-PT, which was being developed with the support of the World Bank, would provide the overall framework and coordination mechanisms to promote, and maximize benefits from power trade in the subregion. After arriving at a consensus on the proposed changes, the EPF-8 meeting adopted the draft IGA and submitted it for signing in the 11th GMS Ministerial Conference in 2002.

For the entire proceedings, email: gms@adb.org

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GMS energy experts meet to review findings of the ongoing Study on the Regional Indicative Master Plan for GMS Power Interconnection, and to finalize the draft of the Inter- Governmental Agreement on Power Trade (June 2001)

The fifth Meeting of the Experts Group on Power Interconnection and Trade (EGP-5) was held in Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China (PRC) from 19 to 21 June 2001. The EGP-5 meeting was held primarily to review the Interim Report of the Regional Indicative Master Plan Study for GMS Power Interconnection and provide further directions for the study, particularly on the assessments of the long-term demand and its supply options for the Master Plan. It will be recalled that the study is being undertaken to prepare the subregional transmission master plan and harmonize transmission planning, design and operational practices to promote subregional power trade. More specifically, the Master Plan Study includes assessment of GMS power demand and generation and transmission plans, updating of power interconnections based on revised forecasts, formulating an indicative master plan, and identifying the institutional and regulatory issues for implementation.

During the first two days of EGP-5 meeting, the consultants, M/s Norconsult of Norway, presented findings of the Interim Report of the Master Plan, which included the demand and supply options, potential interconnection candidates, technical coordination requirements, and institutional and regulatory aspects. In each of these presentations, the GMS delegates and members of the Advisory Panel provided numerous substantive comments and additional information that were not covered by the Interim Report. The discussions also provided opportunities for both consultants and GMS delegates to agree on steps to facilitate the completion of the Master Plan Study. Also, the GMS delegates submitted proposals for updating work plan of the EGP during 2002 - 2004 and it was agreed to solicit more proposals from the GMS members focusing on the power sector activities with regional/ cross-border themes.

The later part of the EGP-5 meeting was devoted to the review of the 4th draft of the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Power Trade in the GMS (IGA-PT) under the agreed Policy Statement at 1999. The IGA-PT, which is being developed with the support of the World Bank, will provide the overall framework and coordination mechanisms to promote power trade in the subregion that would maximize the benefits from subregional power interconnection and trade. It was agreed that the draft IGA-PT would be submitted to the forthcoming Subregional Electric Power Forum (EPF) in November-or December 2001 for the endorsement at the GMS Ministerial Meeting in 2002.

For the entire proceedings, email: gms@adb.org

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