By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas & Ron Chen, Bureau Chief, Asia
Thursday, at the Friends of the Mekong Senior Officials Meeting in Vientiane, Lao PDR, the United States and Japan, together with Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam, released the Japan-US-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP) Action Plan , a comprehensive document that outlines priority technical cooperation projects and activities to help Mekong countries achieve their goals related to clean energy deployment, cross-border electricity trade, and national and regional power market development.
Technical assistance detailed in the JUMPP Action Plan includes: assessments to facilitate wind, solar, and battery energy storage, grid integration, power market analysis and roadmaps to accelerate clean energy use, advisory support to maximize use of existing cross-border electrical interconnections, capacity building, peer-to-peer regulatory exchanges, technical recommendations on contracts to attract clean energy infrastructure, as well as visits to the United States to learn best practices from US energy markets, companies, and regulators.
Launched in 2019 in support of the Mekong-US Partnership and the US Clean EDGE (Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy) Asia Initiative, JUMPP enhances institutional capacity to advance the clean energy transition, regional electricity trade, and power market reforms that enhance market competition, incentivize clean energy deployment, and mobilize investment. By helping Mekong government partners reliably integrate renewable energy, electric vehicles, and battery storage; attract high-quality investment; increase cross-border power trade; and develop human resource capacity, JUMPP advances the shared goals of increasing regional energy security, resiliency, and prosperity. Vice President Kamala Harris underscored these shared commitments during her November 2022 visit to Thailand.
