Strategic environmental assessments may be used to compare different energy scenarios, and a more sustainable power plan can be developed by incorporating the wider impacts considered during the assessment process.

This book is the third in a three-volume series of studies arising from the ADB project Ensuring Sustainability of the Greater Mekong Subregion Regional Power Development, and demonstrates how sustainability may be assessed in power planning, as well as how incorporating wider impacts might change decisions on the optimal power plan.

In the study, ADB drew up alternative scenarios in the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process to compare and contrast the sustainability of different variations on the regional power plan. From this analysis, conclusions are drawn for power planning policy such as the choice of technology to include in the power generation mix, the proportion of renewable energy, and the emphasis required on energy efficiency. The alternative scenarios are not intended to be fully developed power plans but to serve as an important planning tool. They reflect significant differences in policy, so that the SEA comparisons can highlight important differences and trends.

This volume finds that incorporating significantly greater renewable energy production and greater energy efficiency measures would increase the sustainability of power plans at a comparatively low additional financial cost. Moreover, energy efficiency measures can offset costs of additional renewable energy. The resulting power generation mix would be stable and would provide greater energy security, while remaining affordable and accessible.

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