Traditional fossil fuel (e.g. oil or gas) power plants are often built near cities to facilitate the delivery of electricity; however, a super grid is a wide-area transmission network that connects multiple different types of power generation systems in a long-distance power transmission setup, thereby increasing the power transmission distance and facilitating the transmission of renewable energy. According to the Greenpeace report, by 2030, the super grid in Europe can make the EU renewable energy use 45%. As the world strives to reach the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, the application of the super grid concept may be one solution.
Super Grid Facilitates the Transmission of Renewable Energy
Traditional fossil fuel (e.g. oil or gas) power plants are often built near cities to facilitate the delivery of electricity; however, areas such as high-quality wind farms in the North Sea or the sunny Mediterranean coast are quite far from populated areas the distance. As a result, how to transmit electricity generated by wind or solar power to where it is needed at a reasonable cost has become an important issue, which has led to the birth of super grids.
A super grid is a wide-area transmission network that connects multiple different types of power generation systems in a long-distance power transmission setup, thereby increasing the power transmission distance and facilitating the transmission of renewable energy. According to the Greenpeace report, by 2030, the super grid in Europe can make the EU renewable energy use 45%. As the world strives to reach the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, the application of the supergrid concept may be one solution.
Funding, Regulations, Transnational Regions, etc. are All Challenges in Building A Super Grid
The construction of a super grid faces many challenges, as is the general large-scale and complex infrastructure, especially the investment of capital. It is estimated that the amount of investment required for a super grid project may reach several trillion dollars. Such a large-scale investment requires the government to have clear regulations, tax incentives and other corresponding policies to attract the attention of large enterprises. In addition, the construction of super grids spans many countries, involving issues such as the ownership of electricity, the construction of electricity storage facilities, etc. It also requires communication and cooperation between different countries, so political communication is also an issue that cannot be ignored.
Views from Experts on Renewable Energy and Super Grids
Since super grids can support renewable energy, and the application of renewable energy will only increase, the amount of renewable energy that Europe will invest in should be considerable. One of the main driving forces of the renewable energy industry in Europe today is electric vehicles, because European ground transportation is likely to fully adopt electric vehicles by 2050. In other words, if Europe is to replace traditional fuel oil, wind and solar energy will be very important alternative energy sources.
The North Sea Club is a key area for renewable energy in Europe, mainly due to the following reasons:
- The wind speed is fast
- Wide range of power generation
- The sea area is shallow
- Small population and low development cost
The energy laws and regulations of different countries and the safety of power transmission are also important issues that need to be paid attention to and clarified again for cross-border cooperation super grids.
Teruyuki Ono, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Institute (REI) REI has been building Asia's super grid since 2011, allowing different countries to benefit from each other by exchanging abundant and natural renewable energy, including wind, solar and hydro.
Japan is an island country and does not have a transnational power transmission network like Europe, so the development of renewable energy in Japan has not been enthusiastic in the past few years. However, due to the generation of super grid, renewable energy can be transmitted to South Korea, China, Russia and other countries through the seabed. It is believed that Japan's renewable energy will develop rapidly.
The main challenge of Asia Super Grid is the lack of political consensus to develop this goal, but the attitudes of other countries except Japan are actually positive. As long as Japan can change its view on Asian Super Grid, I believe that the politics of East Asian countries Consensus will also be easier to reach.
The infrastructure (such as multinational power grids and substations) required for the development of Asian super grids has considerable experience in the United States and Europe, and Asia does not require additional investment in related infrastructure; and the technology and operations required for this part The models are also very mature, so the only thing Asian countries have to do is: determination.
The future of super grids has already begun, in terms of technology, investment structure, urgency of development and connection to existing infrastructure. European countries and infrastructure-related industries will play an important role in the subsequent development of super grids.
