-- The Asian Development Bank will provide backing from now until 2035 for $70 million worth of new energy and digital initiatives, with power grid interconnections, cross-border electricity trade and improved internet access in Asia and the Pacific among benefitting projects, the bank said on Sunday.
One of the initiatives, the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative, will connect national and sub-regional power systems that enable cross-border flows of electricity while an Asia-Pacific Digital Highway will help close a digital infrastructure gap and foster AI-driven growth, a statement said.
The Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative will seek to bring together the pubic and private sectors plus development partners to mobilize $50 billion by 2035 for cross-border power infrastructure that enables the deployment of more renewables generation capacity.
In particular, it will focus on transmission and grid integration including cross-border power lines, substations, storage and grid digitalization, the statement said, as well as supporting electricity trade flows and renewable energy exports.
The Asian Development Bank aims to integrate about 20 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity across borders and connect 22,000 circuit-kilometers of transmission lines and cut emissions from the region's power generation by 15%, the statement said.
While the ADB will put up its own resources for about half of the $50 billion needed and seek the rest through co-financing including from the private sector, it said.
The Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative will help to establish a regional approach to trade in power rather than bilateral trade between individual countries, and will build on existing cooperation initiatives that have helped make it possible.
The Asia-Pacific Digital Highway, will seek to mobilize about $20 billion by 2035 to finance digital corridors, data infrastructure and AI-ready economies, the bank's statement said.