In 2021, a severe snowstorm hit Texas. When this happened, the state’s isolated grid was unable to access surplus electrical power from neighboring regions, leaving 4. 5 million homes and businesses without power.

To understand why, know that the U. S. power grid includes three main interconnections: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Texas Independent Interconnection. The local networks within those zones are connected, but the links between the 3 main zones are minimal. Reduce effective energy use and make grids vulnerable to outages.

However, the growing number of extreme weather events is just one of many reasons highlighting the need for a Supergrid.

Using novel grid technologies for long-distance bulk power transmission, a Supergrid can connect the most optimal large-scale renewable energy sources to major demand centres and enable more efficient energy trading. Overcoming the limitations of existing infrastructure and potentially linking continents, the idea is based on two key facts.

First, the ongoing transition to renewable and decentralized energy resources has shifted generation away from demand centers to regions where geography and climatic conditions allow for effective generation. Second, renewables occasionally operate in symbiosis. Periods of peak wind production, for example, tend to be less productive for PV, and vice versa. Affordable renewable energy is supposed to be available somewhere, making electric transportation the biggest challenge.

Solar energy center near Guadarranque, San Roque, Cádiz province, Spain. (Photo by: KenArray. [+] Welsh/UCG/Universal Images Group Getty Images)

Driven by its goal of carbon neutrality until 2060, China is moving towards building the world’s largest supergrid. Using very high voltage power lines operating at 1. 1 million volts, this generation transports electrical energy generated from renewable sources, such as wind farms in central Mongolia or hydropower in the southwest, to densely populated areas. Interesting note: those UHV lines basically exploit the existing new “Made in Europe” direct generation. By 2024, more than 30 UHV projects will have been added, connecting entire regions such as Wuhan and Nanchang.

But China’s vision doesn’t stop at its borders, as it plans to extend the grid to other Northeast Asian countries including Japan, Korea or Russia. Prioritizing the massive economic, ecological and geostrategic upsides, China has downplayed issues like environmental impact, land acquisition, and struggles with integrating renewables.

Construction personnel installed a force grid for the assignment of the high-altitude 800-kilovolt Hami-Chongqing UHVDC transmission line in Zhangye, China, on Nov. 14, 2024. (Photo via Costfoto/NurPhoto Getty Images)

Such challenges would hinder the development of a Supergrid in Europe and the US – two regions that are currently relying on a network of individual and partially connected grids.

This has been sufficient to provide widespread electricity supply. So far. But a key weakness lies in the interconnections. They lack the scale, capacity, and range needed for unrestricted bulk power transfers. In the era of intermittent renewables, this doesn’t only put our energy security risk. It also exposes us to enormous price volatility.

One example among many occurred on September 12, 2024, at 7 p. m. ESTE. La daily electricity costs €5/MWh in Norway, while in Germany €300/MWh. This additional example illustrates the need for a supernet, which would help alleviate those price disparities by making other network resources available.

Luckily, despite the environmental challenges, both regions offer a compelling case for this solution. This is due to their integrated single market with free movement of goods, services, capital, and labour, as well as their strong regulatory cohesion and ambitious net-zero targets. Moreover, Europe has put in place a strong political framework for cross-national energy collaboration.

Initiatives are underway on both sides of the Atlantic, but compared to China, they are infants.

Launched in November 2017, the North American Supergrid initiative aims to build an existing largely underground high-voltage direct voltage (HVDC) network in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Studies such as The North American Supergrid and Harvard China Project suggest that the grid could reduce energy sector emissions by up to 80%, while expanding the power and resilience of the energy market. However, the task has faced difficult situations such as obtaining permits, high prices and opposition from local communities.

More recently, the U. S. Department of Energy has called for greater interregional and interconnection capacity to make U. S. grids compatible for the 21st century.

And in Europe, grid operators are obliged to achieve 70% cross-zonal capacity by 2025, with varying success. One lighthouse project is NordLink, which connects Norway to northern Germany. Other projects to build HVDC power lines are still in planning or early construction phases, such as SuedLink.

22 March 2021, Schleswig-Holstein, Wilster: A technician looks at parts of the NordLink company’s … [+] converters. The direct current generated by hydroelectric power from Norway is converted into alternating current in this plant and fed into the German power grid. Photo: Axel Heimken/dpa (Photo by Axel Heimken/picture alliance via Getty Images)

One of the biggest obstacles to building a supergrid will be cost. A new study from Rystad Energy projects that limiting global warming to 1. 8°C above pre-industrial degrees will require around $3. 1 trillion in global grid infrastructure investments through 2030.

A possible solution involves cutting-edge technologies, such as superconducting cable systems. Capable of transmitting ten times more energy, it requires less surface area and raw fabric than classic copper or aluminum cables.

Although the issue of financing network progress will remain, the benefits will outweigh the costs. For example, greater integration of the electricity market and increased cross-border industry over the last decade have already generated benefits for the entire EU, estimated at around €34 billion per year.

The same is true in the United States, where the DOE estimates that accelerating transportation expansion would generate cost savings of between $270 billion and $490 billion through 2050. For every dollar of investment spent on transportation improvements, They would need approximately between $1. 60 and $1. 80. bran.

Grids are often seen as the “lame duck” of the energy transition. Wrongfully!

Given the physically powerful environmental considerations, an overhaul of our network infrastructure is imperative to decarbonize our business base. This will maintain our economic prosperity and combat the socio-economic divide that exists in many of our Western societies.

It is the best time to replace politics and perception, putting the demand, origin and sending of energy at eye level.

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