The world electric power industry has been growing for more than 130 years since the world’s first thermal power plant was completed in Paris in 1875. To construct robust smart grids – a modern grid system capable of allocating transnational and transcontinental electricity and of flexibly adapting to new energy development and diversified service needs – has become a direction and strategic option in the global grid development of the twenty-first century.

Global energy interconnection refers to the development of a globally interconnected, ubiquitous robust smart grid, supported by backbone UHV grids (channels), and dedicated primarily to the transmission of clean energy (Fig. 5.4). Comprising of transnational and transcontinental backbone grids and ubiquitous smart power grids in different countries covering the transmission/distribution of power at different voltage grades, the globally interconnected energy network is connected to large energy bases in the Arctic and equatorial regions, as well as different continents and countries. It can adapt to the need for grid access for distributed power sources with the capability to deliver wind, solar, ocean, and other renewables to different types of end users. Generally speaking, a global energy interconnection is in effect a combination of “UHV grids plus ubiquitous smart grids plus clean energy,” forming a green, low-carbon platform for global allocation of energy with extensive coverage, strong allocation capability, and a high level of security and reliability. It can link up the grids on different continents divided by time zones and seasons to remove resource bottlenecks, environmental constraints and spatio-temporal limitations, realizing mutual support and backup between wind and solar generation and across different regions. This will result in greater energy security, improved economic benefits and reduced environmental losses to effectively resolve issues of energy safety, clean development, efficiency improvement and sustainability. This development will turn the world into a “global village” characterized by abundant resources, greenliness with clear bright skies, and peace and harmony.

In the Arctic region, the channels for outgoing transmission of wind power meet the transmission requirement of wind energy bases in the region, including Greenland, the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and the Bering Strait. These channels also form a strategic platform for building the northern hemisphere’s three transcontinental grids as part of a globally interconnected energy network. See Fig. 5.8 for an illustration of the Arctic’s channels for outgoing power transmission.

Outgoing transmission channels in the equatorial region are primarily responsible for delivering solar energy from the equatorial energy bases in North Africa, East Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and South America. They are also the major channels connecting the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. See Fig. 5.9 for the outgoing transmission of electricity from solar energy bases in the equatorial region.

Transcontinental UHV grid backbones are not only responsible for global transmission of power generated in large clean energy bases on each continent, but can also increase the efficiency and effectiveness of global energy allocation by capitalizing on the mutual backup and resource sharing made possible by the time difference between the eastern and western hemispheres as well as the seasonal difference between the southern and northern hemispheres. The future of transcontinental grid interconnection is primarily determined by the demand for interconnection among different continents and also the conditions of project implementation. Interconnection projects reflecting the strong aspiration of stakeholders and good technological and economic conditions will be implemented first. Efforts are expected to be devoted to advance grid interconnections between Africa and Europe, between Asia and Europe, and between Asia and Africa around 2030, and grid interconnections between North America and South America, between Oceania and Asia, and between Asia and North America around 2040. Grid interconnection between Europe and North America is also expected to go forward around 2050.

Asia is the world’s largest load center with abundant renewable energy resources. In the future, intracontinental interconnected grids will be built with the continent’s large renewable energy bases at the sending end, and connected to various major load centers to receive electricity flows from the Arctic and equatorial regions across different continents and countries. To realize low-carbon, sustainable development of energy in Asia, some countries have put forward the concept of “Asian super grid” in which the coal-fired power plants, hydropower stations, wind farms, and solar farms in Northeast Asia will be connected with the load centers in China, Japan, and South Korea. To meet ever-higher targets of low-carbon energy development, Asia must cut down on fossil energy consumption and step up renewable energy development in the future. At the sending end of power through interconnected grids, Asia’s major renewable energy bases have undergone more rapid expansion. They include the wind and solar energy bases in Mongolia, the hydropower stations in the Russian far east and Siberia, the wind and solar energy bases in Central Asia, the wind power bases in Northwest China, Northeast China, and North China, the solar energy bases in Northwest China, the wind power bases in the Bering Strait and Sakhalin, and the solar and wind power bases in India. Judging by the distribution of load centers in Asia, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and India will become home to Asia’s major load centers, given these regions’ large populations and well-developed industries. Judging by the development and interconnection of renewable energy bases, large hydropower bases will be built in Southwest China, Russian Siberia, and the Russian Far East to transmit power to the load centers in China; large wind power bases will be built in Northeast China, Northwest China, North China, Mongolia, and the Russian far east to deliver electricity to the load centers in Northeast Asia. large solar energy bases will be built in Northwest China, Tibet and Mongolia to deliver power to the load centers in Central and Eastern China and Northeastern Asia. Hydro, wind, and solar energy generated in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) will be “bundled,” scheduled and transmitted flexibly according to load changes in and time differences between Asia and Europe.

Europe is one of the most important load centers in the world. The continent’s interconnected power grids are designed principally to allow access for wind power from the Arctic and the North Sea, and the solar energy from Southern Europe and North Africa. Another purpose is to ensure joint operation of hydropower and other power sources generated in Europe, and continent-wide consumption of these power sources. In 2008, Europe initiated the “European super grid” concept in which a large grid is envisioned for the pan-European region to facilitate continent-wide utilization and consumption of wind power from Northern Europe, solar energy from Southern Europe, and hydropower and other forms of energy generated across the continent. In Europe with a dense population and scarce natural gas resources, calls for denuclearization have been voiced strongly in some countries. To achieve low-carbon, sustainable development of energy, Europe is likely to further reduce the use of fossil energy and nuclear power while importing more clean electricity, such as wind power from the Arctic and solar energy from the equatorial region by ramping up wind power development in the North Sea and the share of renewables in energy utilization across Europe. Under this scenario, UHV technology will be needed in the future to build a pan-European grid backbone and a robust smart grid to ensure efficient access for and consumption of renewable energy. Power loads in different regions of Europe are comparatively more evenly distributed, with Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and Spain having higher loads. By integrating development and transmission of renewable energy, Europe will see the formation of “three vertical and three horizontal” backbone channels of interconnections. The horizontal channels will include a northern UHV channel for importing wind power from the North Sea, hydropower from Northern Europe and wind power from the Arctic; a central UHV channel connected to the load centers in southern Britain, northern France, Germany, and Poland with capacity for importing renewable power from Central Asia; and a southern UHV channel connected to the solar energy bases in Spain, Italy, and Greece. Among the three vertical channels will be a western UHV channel connected to the wind power bases in Greenland, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea, the offshore wind power bases in the United Kingdom, the load centers in France and the solar energy bases in Spain and North Africa; a central UHV channel connected to the hydropower bases in Norway, the load centers in Germany, and the solar energy bases in Italy and North Africa; and an eastern channel connected to the wind power bases in the Kara Sea, the load centers in Finland and Poland, and the solar energy bases in Greece and North Africa. In addition, the Europe will be interconnected with Central Asia and North Africa for exchanging electric power at the intercontinental level. Europe’s transnational interconnections are illustrated in Fig. 5.12.

North America’s grid interconnections connect the wind power bases in the central and western parts of the continent, the solar energy bases in the southwestern regions and the hydropower bases in Canada to the load centers in the east and west, importing Arctic wind power from Greenland in the east and with interconnections with Asia’s power grids through Alaska in the west, to achieve large-area allocation and efficient consumption of renewable energy at the intracontinental and transcontinental levels. North America is one of the most important load centers in the world, abundant with solar, wind and hydropower resources. In order to promote the development and consumption of renewable energy in North America, the United States Department of Energy has proposed “Grid 2030 Plan” to upgrade its electric power system by building backbone grids in the US and a regional network interconnected with Canada and Mexico. In response to the challenge of climate change and as the two-replacement gains momentum, efforts will be stepped up in North America to develop wind and solar energy bases for joint operation with large river-based hydropower stations in Canada and America to transmit power to the load centers in the eastern and western parts of the continent. As renewable energy bases and load centers are unevenly distributed, electricity flows within the continent will rise significantly, necessitating the development of an interconnected system across the continent with UHV grids as its backbone. The hydropower stations in the Columbia River Basin and the Great Lakes region will deliver power to the load centers in western and eastern parts of North America, forming two vertical backbone channels in the east and west. The wind power bases in midwest America, the solar energy bases in the Southwest and the hydropower stations in the Mississippi River Basin in the south will deliver electricity to the load centers in the eastern and western parts of North America, forming the base for a horizontal channel of interconnections across the continent. In addition, the solar energy bases in the American southwest and northwest Mexico will transmit electricity to the load centers in Mexico, creating a grid-covered region in the south as part of the wider grid system of North America and a channel with interconnections with South America. See Fig. 5.13 for North America’s transnational grid interconnections.

South America is abundant in energy resources. Grid interconnections in the continent are designed mainly to realize mutual support for power supply between north and south in the western coast of the continent, transmission of electricity from north to south in the eastern regions, and transmission of power from west to east in the central regions. Situated to the west of the Andes with abundant solar and wind energy resources, Chile and Peru have more potential for energy export due to their smaller populations and lower load demand compared with larger countries to the east, such as Brazil and Argentina. Situated in eastern South America, the Amazon, the Tocantins, and the Parana river basins are abundant in hydroelectric resources, enabling them to transmit power to the load centers on the eastern coasts of Brazil and Argentina. The solar and wind power bases in western South America can supply power to load centers in the east through UHV grids. Grid interconnections between east and west will generate better benefits through the combined operation of wind, solar and hydropower bases. The Brazil Belo Monte UHV DC transmission project with a route length of 2092 km transmits hydropower from the Xingu River in the north to Estreito, a load center in the southeast. It is the first ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project on the continent of America.

Grid interconnections in Africa will help achieve the operation of solar and wind power bases in North Africa jointly with the hydropower bases in Central Africa and the solar energy bases in Southern Africa to meet rising power demand in Africa and provide a robust grid at the sending end for solar energy exports from North Africa, shaping a new energy scenario marked by the delivery of electricity from north to south, mutual support for electricity flows between east and west, transmission of power northward to Europe, and interconnections with Asia to the east. To promote hydropower development of the Congo river, the government of South Africa approved in 2012 the draft provisions for developing the Grand Inga Project in partnership with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Under the project, plans are afoot to employ large-capacity, long-distance power transmission technology to deliver electricity to South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and other nations after meeting Congo’s power demand. This project to deliver power to North Africa can reach as far as Southern Europe and the Middle East. Hydropower development of the Congo River will create favorable conditions for the construction of an interconnected power grid in Africa. In the future, solar energy bases in Egypt, Algeria, and other North African countries will deliver electricity to East Africa and West Africa. The transmission channels will then extend southward to interconnect with Southern Africa, forming a horizontal backbone stretching from east to west as part of Africa’s wider interconnected system. Hydropower generated in the Nile River Basin will be supplied to Egypt to the north and Tanzania to the south. While supplying power to Central Africa, the hydropower bases in the Congo River Basin and the Zambezi River Basin will jointly operate with the wind and solar energy bases in the north and south to promote continent-wide integration of renewable energy and to supply power to West Africa and Southern Africa.

The construction of country-based smart grid structures must be effectively integrated into the backbone structure of a globally interconnected energy network to ensure safe and reliable operation of domestic grids and meet the domestic need for clean energy development and utilization. This should underline coordinated efforts to ensure optimal allocation of energy both at home and abroad by building capacity to import clean energy and export surplus power.

High intelligence is an important quality of a globally interconnected energy network and enhancing the level of grid intelligence is an integral part of building such a network. In the future, ubiquitous smart grids built on a robust foundation will become the core network and allocation platform for modern energy, markedly different from conventional grids in terms of development direction, development focus and functional roles.

The development of the global energy interconnection must be secured by a global energy governance mechanism built on all-round cooperation. The construction and development of the global energy interconnection involves large-scale development of renewable energy resources in the Arctic and equatorial regions, and also resource-rich regions of each continent. It also involves transcontinental transmission and intercontinental interconnections of mutual backup, and the upgrading, modification, and intelligentization of transnational transmission networks on each continent and the transmission and distribution grids of each country. This unprecedented example of global energy cooperation requires the establishment of a mechanism and an organizational base of mutual trust and benefit to carry out energy cooperation at the global level. Over the past century, different forms of international energy cooperative organizations have been set up in respect of oil, a core energy resource. Although these organizations have played an important role in stabilizing the oil market as well as supply and demand, no global or integrated cooperative agencies or global governance mechanisms have been developed to facilitate global energy cooperation. Facing the challenges of climatic change, environmental crisis and energy security, no countries in the world can completely satisfy development needs solely with their own resources. As an objective reality, global allocation of energy resources is required. In the long run, it is extremely essential to establish a global energy cooperative organization and to develop a binding mechanism, and a joint action plan. This will form an important institutional base for advancing the construction of the global energy interconnection.

A globally interconnected energy network requires the support of an efficient collaborative mechanism. The operation management of a power system is a technologically complex systems management discipline requiring seamless organizational skills. The experience in grid development around the world over the past century suggests that an operation mechanism based on unified dispatching rules and collaboration is a basic requirement to safeguard the safe operation of interconnected grids. In the future, this characteristic of coordinated operation will become more prominent, making the formulation of control and operation rules for centralized, grid-wide coordination, and a responsibility system even more important for the operation of a globally interconnected energy network. First, it is because of the size of the network that will evolve into ubiquitous transmission and distribution grids interconnected at the transnational and transcontinental levels, where the grid assets are owned by different companies and scattered in different countries and regions. This situation warrants the establishment of a coordination mechanism to resolve problems and conflicts arising from highly-decentralized property rights and geographical presence and from the need for centralized operations. Second, it is because of the high level of intermittent energy resources involved. In the future, 80% of energy generation worldwide will come from renewables of an intermittent nature. This will require optimizing interconnection operations over larger areas and the support of various energy storage devices. Third, it is because of an increase in the number of mobile devices. With electric vehicles as a typical example, the growing popularity of powered mobile equipment or energy storage devices necessitates efforts to analyze in real time and understand the distribution of loads and available resources in the system, so that energy flows can be balanced according to changes in resources. Fourth, it is because of higher load flexibility where flexible conversion between generation and demand load is made possible for users by distributed energy sources, therefore requiring the support of more timely communication and information services and control measures to make the most of resources.

A globalized market mechanism is an institutional basis for providing impetus to the development of the global energy interconnection. The global energy interconnection will offer great potential benefits in terms of power transmission, system interconnection, and resource-sharing. To maximize these benefits and to reflect the market value of these benefits in the investment returns on the global energy interconnection, a fair, open, and competitive global electricity market mechanism must be set up to guide power companies and users in the direction of full participation. In the past two decades, with the opening of national electricity markets around the world, international electricity trade has witnessed rapid growth, with an ever-growing footprint. A pan-European market covering seven regions has been created in Europe, compared with 10 regional markets in the United States. A national electricity market has also been created in each of Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Brazil. The growing market coverage contributes to the development of interconnections across different regions, such as the pan-European transmission grid under development in Europe. The creation and effective operation of the future global energy interconnection will have to be based on this global electricity market mechanism.

A good policy environment is a key to achieving the goal of developing a global energy interconnection of interconnections. In order to construct this global energy interconnection, a global energy view has to be taken by all countries, with concerted efforts to combat climate change, set low-carbon development goals and strengthen global energy cooperation so as to foster a policy environment based on a global consensus and a win–win approach to cooperation.

The development and utilization of renewable energy resources provides an alternative to the massive consumption of fossil energy and reduces high levels of pollutant discharges and GHG emissions. It can also avoid water consumption and damage to the ecosystem resulting from fossil energy development and utilization.

Assuring energy supply for socioeconomic development. Through the global energy interconnection, widely scattered clean energy resources with great potential can be developed and utilized to assure a long-term and stable supply of energy. Based on average annual growth of 12.4% for wind and solar power generation from now, nonfossil energy will account for 80% of the world’s total energy consumption by 2050. At that time, wind and solar energy will become the dominant sources of power; yet even then, we will have only reached no more than five ten-thousandths (5/10,000) of the total developable capacity of these energy resources.

Promoting the shift of focus in developing regions from the advantages of resources to economic strengths. Among others, Africa, Asia, and South America are the major regions where large-scale development of clean energy is absent. By building a global network of energy interconnections, we can help transform the advantages of the rich resources that these regions possess into economic strengths, which will translate into job opportunities for the local population,¹ well-being improvements for people in developing countries, narrower gaps between developing and developed nations, and eventually sustainable development for all mankind.