Northeast Asia power grid could slash cost of green energy, study finds
- Regional network would enable long-distance transmission of renewable energy for about the same price as it costs to produce coal
- China, Russia, Mongolia, South Korea and Japan consume about a third of the world’s energy combined
A super power grid connecting all the countries of northeast Asia would make renewable energy as cheap and available as coal, according to a new study by Chinese scientists.
With the exception of North Korea, the five nations have signed a series of agreements in recent years to connect their national power lines and coordinate electricity production and distribution.
A regional power grid would enable long-distance, cross-border transmission of renewable energy like hydropower, wind and solar at a cost as low as 0.35 yuan (five US cents) per kilowatt-hour, or about the same as the electricity generated by China’s coal-fired power plants, according to the study published this week on the website of Proceedings of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering.
The cost would “significantly increase the proportion of clean energy in electric power supply systems”, Zhang Ning, a professor of electrical engineering at Tsinghua University, and his team said in the paper.
Although North Korea has not officially been involved in the discussions, most proposals include a land-based line passing through the country to South Korea.
Japan and South Korea rely on fossil fuels imported from the Middle East for about 90 per cent of their energy needs. China’s coal-fired power plants not only pollute its own cities but affect neighbouring countries. Most governments in the region have set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon emissions and renewable energy is expected to grow much faster than fossil fuels in future capacity build-up.