Banner: Dymaxion Projection of the global electricity trade network (2018)
INTERCONNECTIONS
Ever-Progressively-Accelerating ephemeralization
In our comprehensive reviewing of published, academically accepted history we continually explore for the invisible power structure behind the visible kings, prime ministers, czars, emperors, presidents and other official head men, as well as underlying, hidden causes of individual wars and their long, drawn-out campaigns not disclosed by the widely published and popularly accepted causes of those wars.
Neither the great political and power structures of the world,nor the specialization-blinded professionals, nor the population in general realize that sum-totally the omni-integratable, invisible revolution in the metallurgical, chemical and electronic arts now make it possible to do so much more with ever fewer pounds and volumes of material, ergs of energy , and seconds of time per given technological function that it is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a “higher standard of living than any have ever known.”
Evolution seems to be operating in such a manner as to drive humans to inadvertent accomplishment of their own success.
R. Buckminster Fuller
Global Energy Transition
The Paris Agreement and mid-century carbon-neutrality goals call for an urgent global energy transition, which is expected to include a steep increase of renewable power generation. The endowment of renewable energy sources (RESs) (solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and hydropower) varies across regions in terms of both quantity (total potential) and quality (capacity factor). Unlike fossil fuels, which are frequently transported and traded globally, RESs are commonly utilized only in local energy systems. Moreover, electricity demand varies considerably among world regions. A region with high electricity demand due to population and economic growth may not be endowed with sufficient RESs, whereas its neighbouring regions might have a surplus of electricity from RESs.
The advance of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission technology over the past decade offers a solution for overcoming the technical barrier of trading renewable electricity across large world regions. UHV lines can transmit electricity over long distances (2,000–3,000 km) with relatively low losses (around 2–4% per 1,000 km depending on voltage levels). This technology has been commercialized since 2010. As of October 2021, 26 lines in China and one line in Brazil have been constructed with a total length of about 40,000 km. UHV technology exists for both alternating-current (AC, ≥ 1,000 kV) and direct-current (DC, ≥ ± 800 kV). UHVAC transmission technology is usually adopted for synchronous networks within a single region or country, while UHVDC is adopted for remote, large-capacity and long-distance transmission. Recently, a global electricity interconnection network was proposed to transmit large-capacity renewable-based electricity to form an electricity-centred, renewable energy-dominant and interconnected energy system.
Guo, F., van Ruijven, B.J., Zakeri, B. et al. Implications of intercontinental renewable electricity trade for energy systems and emissions. Nat Energy 7, 1144–1156 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01136-0
World Energy
Within the crises times immediately ahead—into which we have already entered—the computer is soon to respond: “We must integrate the world’s electrical-energy networks.We must be able to continually integrate the progressive night-into-day and day-into-night hemispheres of our revolving planet. With all the world’s electric energy needs being supplied by a twenty-four-hour-around, omni-integrated network, all of yesterday’s, one-half-the-time-unemployed, standby generators will be usable all the time, thus swiftly doubling the operating capacity of the world’s electrical energy grid.”
R. Buckminster Fuller. “Critical Path.” The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller, 2015.
Fortune Magazine | February 1940 | See: World Grid Project
Spontaneous Cross-Border Cooperation
The new decade is poised to be one of fundamental change in the global electricity sector, with the widening cost advantages and spread of renewable energy. One result of that trend is that power networks and markets have entered a new phase of international and regional integration. More renewables benefit from larger, varied, and more flexible grids, which has spurred transmission build-out and grid modernization worldwide. Trading power across international borders and facilitating more complex markets both deliver increasing cost savings and efficiency gains, especially with rising demand and growing shares of renewables in the power mix.
International Grid Integration | Phillip Cornell | Atlantic Council | Global Energy Center | 2019
