This working paper, "POWER TRADE FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT: Global best practices, Challenges and ways forward," issued by the United Nations ESCAP Energy Division with UNECE, ECLAC, ESCWA and ECA in December 2025, examines cross‑border power connectivity as a lever to accelerate renewable energy deployment while strengthening energy security and resilience amid geopolitical, supply‑chain and climate stresses. It summarizes project findings and case studies, outlines benefits and risks, and presents policy options to integrate renewables through regional interconnections. The paper’s core call to action urges governments and regional bodies to align renewable targets with transmission and interconnection plans, harmonize regulations and data sharing, structure bankable projects, and leverage UN Regional Commissions to scale up reliable, low‑carbon regional power trade.
Key Insights
The paper finds that cross‑border power connectivity is essential to accelerate renewable integration, reduce costs, and enhance reliability and resilience, noting that ESCAP member States have endorsed the Regional Road Map for Cross‑Border Power System Connectivity to guide cooperation.
The Georgia–Romania Black Sea submarine HVDC interconnection—±500 kV, about 1,155 km and 1,300 MW, had a 2022–2024 CESI feasibility study confirming technical, environmental, and social viability with positive economic benefits, and Georgia has applied for Project of Mutual Interest status to advance implementation.
In Central America, the SIEPAC 230 kV, ~1,793 km interconnection and the Regional Electricity Market delivered net economic benefits of up to USD 132 million between June 2013 and December 2015 and can reduce total system costs by up to 16 percent under high‑renewables scenarios.
In the Arab region, the GCC Interconnection Authority’s 400 kV backbone with HVDC bridging has generated cumulative economic savings exceeding US$3 billion by end‑2023 and is expanding to Iraq, illustrating a mature institutional model that supports reserve sharing and structured trade.
Key barriers include transmission bottlenecks, operational and regulatory fragmentation, and financing constraints, global transmission investment reached USD 140 billion in 2023 with about 80 percent in advanced economies and China, so the report calls for harmonized grid codes and market rules, integrated planning and data sharing, bankable project structures, and stronger roles for UN Regional Commissions to turn commitments into scalable interconnections.
