High technology energy roadmap for Central Asia

Leapfrogging energy technologies for social and environmental progress

ADBJPG

Large-scale investments in advanced energy technologies support economic and environmental policy

Member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program  are committed to a shared vision for the region’s energy sector. This vision is to have access to adequate volumes of reliable, affordable, financially sustainable, and environmentally sound commercial energy for all

Major changes in the energy sector and rapid advances in technology are creating new opportunities for CAREC member countries. This is embodied in the idea of ‘leapfrogging’ – jumping from yesterday’s technology to tomorrow’s and in doing so, missing out a transition to the mature and soon to be obsolete technologies of today.

The Asian Development Bank commissioned Urban Foresight to lead a global project to develop a roadmap to guide energy policy and investments for governments in Central Asia.

The roadmap identified that new technologies have created opportunities to transform energy supply and consumption in developing countries. The goal was to advance the development of energy sectors that are reliable, affordable and financially sustainable for all, as well as being environmentally sound.

Four key technologies were presented as enabling this vision: solar power, battery storage, energy efficiency and electric vehicles.

The roadmap detailed the necessary policies, regulatory changes and infrastructure capacity required to accelerate the adoption of these technologies in the region.

It also established a framework to raise awareness of these high-potential, emergent technology systems.

An important contribution of the roadmap was to assess the technological, social, economic, and environmental trends impacting on energy supply and demand.

The roadmap also provided a basis to identify future areas of risk and opportunity that were specific to individual countries in Central Asia.