Large Scale Power Exchangein the Greater Mekong Subregion

Abstract

The Indicative Master Plan on Power Interconnection in the GMS Countries comprises,among other things, a demand forecast, sub-regional generation and interconnection expansionplans and an economic analysis. The Study was funded by the Asian Development Bank and conductedby Norconsult International AS. The Indicative Master Plan studies the implications of a LimitedPower Cooperation Scenario and several Extended Power Cooperation Scenarios. In the formercase, countries rely mostly on domestic power generation, and only minor new interconnectionsbetween the countries are built. With Extended Cooperation, large scale hydro generation in LaoPDR, Yunnan and possibly Myanmar substitutes gas- and coal-fired generation in Thailand and tosome extent Vietnam. The latter scenarios require the establishment of a strong 500 kV grid,interconnecting Vietnam, Lao PDR and Thailand (and possibly Myanmar) together with a 500 kVHVDC link to the Yunnan province of the PRC. The economic analysis shows that the discountedcosts of the most favorable Extended Cooperation Scenario are 914 million USD lower than thecorresponding costs of the Limited Cooperation Scenario. Without the 3600 MW low cost but highlyuncertain Tasang project in Myanmar the cost savings are 645 million USD. In addition, these twoExtended Cooperation Scenarios result in accumulated savings of 395 and 250 million ton CO2respectively. If a value of 5 USD/ton is assumed for CO2 reductions, the savings increase to 1324 and933 million USD for the alternatives with and without Tasang, respectively.