Cross-border transmission is moving up the infrastructure agenda in emerging markets, with interconnector projects advancing across regional power pools as countries look to trade surplus hydro, solar and gas-fired power with neighbours and to share reserves.

In Southeast Asia, multilateral power trades and the lifting of export restrictions have given the long-planned regional grid commercial momentum. In Africa, the southern, eastern and western power pools are each advancing backbone lines and high-voltage links, financed largely by development banks. Our Southeast Asia and Africa overviews map the projects.

What is driving it

Complementary resources — hydro in one country, solar or gas in another — make trade valuable; growing renewables shares make shared reserves valuable; and interconnection is often cheaper than domestic firm capacity. Financing structures built for cross-border assets are maturing, as we report separately.

What it means for suppliers

Interconnectors are large orders for high-voltage transmission equipment — conductors, towers, transformers, HVDC converters, subsea cable in some cases — plus control-centre and market systems for cross-border dispatch. Long lead times for key equipment make early engagement essential.

Follow the projects in our grid and transmission section.

Background: why power pools are back on the agenda

Regional interconnection has been discussed for decades — the Southern African Power Pool was founded in 1995 and the ASEAN Power Grid has been an official goal since the late 1990s — but investment lagged because national utilities preferred self-sufficiency and cross-border contracts were hard to finance. Three things have changed. Hydro-rich countries such as Ethiopia and Laos now have surplus to sell; solar- and wind-rich neighbours need firm imports to balance variable output; and multilateral lenders including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the ADB have made regional grids a lending priority.

The result is a pipeline of 220 kV to 500 kV lines, back-to-back HVDC stations and shared substations across the Eastern Africa Power Pool, the West African Power Pool, SAPP and the Greater Mekong Subregion, alongside early moves toward multilateral trading such as the Laos–Thailand–Malaysia–Singapore power integration project.

What to watch

• Financing structures. How lines are paid for — regulated transmission tariffs, wheeling charges or bilateral capacity contracts — is covered in our story on cross-border transmission financing.
• Market rules. Day-ahead and balancing markets in SAPP and the emerging EAPP market are creating price signals that will shape which lines get built next.
• HVDC and grid-forming technology. Long distances and asynchronous systems favour HVDC links and advanced converter stations.
• Wheeling and open access. Regional trade depends on domestic wheeling frameworks that let power flow across utility boundaries.

What it means for suppliers to utilities and OEMs

Interconnectors are large, multi-year projects with international competitive bidding, so they attract global EPC contractors and equipment suppliers — but each line also needs substations, transformers, reactors, protection and control systems, fibre communications and metering at every border point. Suppliers should register with the power-pool coordination centres and the national utilities on both sides of a border, and expect development-bank procurement rules and standards such as IEC 60071 and IEC 61850 to apply. Our grid reliability page tracks interconnector tenders alongside domestic transmission projects.

Quick answers

What is a regional power pool?

A cooperation framework in which national utilities and system operators trade electricity across borders under agreed technical and commercial rules, supported by shared interconnectors.

Which power pools are most active in emerging markets?

The Southern African, Eastern Africa and West African power pools, the Central American SIEPAC system, and the ASEAN Power Grid initiative are the largest, alongside bilateral links in the Mekong region.

Sources and further reading

• Southern African Power Pool — market and project information
• West African Power Pool — regional master plan and projects
• Eastern Africa Power Pool — regional market development
• ASEAN Centre for Energy — ASEAN Power Grid programme
• African Development Bank — Energy — interconnector financing
• EnergiTech Media — Africa energy infrastructure overview — regional context
• EnergiTech Media — Southeast Asia energy infrastructure overview — regional context

This article was researched and written by the EnergiTech Media editorial team and last reviewed in August 2026. We update country and sector guides as tenders, plans and regulations change. Spotted something out of date? Email support@energitechmedia.com.