The future of universal energy access lies in the fate of super grids. Super grids are future grids that interconnect several countries and regions with a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power grid.
It is a wide-area transmission network capable of large-scale transmission of electricity, which creates the possibility to trade high volumes of (renewable) electricity across great distances.
In recent times, the idea of super-grids has become fascinating because carbon-neutrality commitments, technological advancements and improved cost incentives are accelerating a wide expansion of renewable power generation.
While countries can construct coal, gas and nuclear plants at a proximal distance to the areas they serve, utility-scale solar and wind farms asserted to meet climate targets often can’t. They need to be built wherever the wind and sun are strongest, hundreds or thousands of miles away from the areas to be served. Long cables can also connect peak afternoon solar power in a one-time zone to peak evening demand in another, decreasing the price volatility caused by mismatches in supply and demand and the need for fossil-fuelled backup capacity when the sun or wind fade.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, countries will have to spend at least $14 trillion to strengthen grids by 2050 to meet climate goals of phasing out carbon.
How International has Super-grids gone?
The European Union (the world’s most developed international system for trading electricity) in April 2021 designed a working group to help supersize its grid to include the development of a multi-nation offshore network for wind farms.
Europe has been designing HVDC connectors to allow the controlled supply of power from one nation’s AC grid to another for decades. In 2018, European countries traded just over 9 per cent of their electricity across borders.
In conclusion, transcontinental super grids, if eventually materialised, would boost resilience, electricity access for all and should one nation’s grid suffer a catastrophic outage (like the case of Texas earlier this year and currently South Africa), it could simply draw from others to keep the lights on.