Caption: The Asian Super-grid can define the future of durable energy security
The idea of a major pan-Asian electricity grid germinated in 2011, in the backdrop of the Asian tsunami in that year.
The triple-disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that hit the northeast of Japan in March 2011, served as a wake- up call for Masayoshi Son, a founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Group, a Japanese multinational telecommunications and internet corporation.
Caption: Masayoshi Son, a founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Group with US President-elect Donald Trump
Having perceived the dangers of nuclear power plants in Fukushima, Son felt the need to replace nuclear power with safer and cleaner renewable energy for a better future. The aversion to nuclear technology is particularly understandable for it feeds in the collective memory of the horrors of experiencing nuclear attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To accelerate the deployment of clean, safe, and affordable renewable energy, Son founded the Renewable Energy Institute (REI). This led to the conceptualization of the “Asia Super Grid (ASG)” in September 2011.
Simultaneously, a major technological advancement had in parallel taken place in China, which would play a key role in imparting realism to Son’s dreams.
In the early 2000s, China was facing major blackouts due to energy shortages. The crux of the problem was transmission. While power resources such as coal and gas were in the country’s north, northwest, and southwest, the demand centers were in the industrial hubs along the eastern and southern coasts in and around bustling cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The solution was conceived by the Liu Zhenya, the then head of China's StateGrid. Liu proposed that the transmission problem could be solved by establishing Ultra High Voltage (UHV) power lines. UHV transmission lines, unlike conventional pathways, can transfer vast amounts of power over long distances. This is because the technology allows minimum power loss during transit.
By 2006, UHV transmission was a done deal as it became a part of China’s five-year plan. Consequently, China began constructing a 640km link between the coal heartland of Shanxi in the north to the central province of Hubei, via a stop in the middle. By 2009, this line had become operational.
Consequently, more ambitious undertakings followed. For instance, the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai line was completed in 2010. It was the longest and most powerful transmission system worldwide at the time. By transmitting 6.4 gigawatts, the line was meeting nearly 40 per cent of the city’s power demand.
By April 2024, China had set up 38 UHV lines, capable of delivering both conventional and renewable energy across vast distances.
The Chinese advances in long distance transmission made Son’s ASG project feasible.
With long distance transmission in place, SoftBank scouted for power production centers across vast geographies. Consequently, the SoftBank Group established the SB Energy Corp. to setup renewable electricity generation plants in Japan.
The company also sought partners outside Japan to beef up renewable energy supplies. Mongolia was tapped for its massive wind energy potential. As a result, SB Energy Corp. established Clean Energy Asia LLC with Newcom LLC, a Mongolian conglomerate as partner. The joint venture has secured a land-leasing right in the Gobi Desert for the next 100 years to develop and operate 7 GW worth of wind farms. The company also formed a joint venture company called SBG Cleantech Ltd in India, with India’s Bharti Enterprises Pvt. and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, to develop a 350 MW solar PV farm in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
After securing sufficient renewable energy capacity, the next challenge for Son was to move the renewable energy to Japan and throughout Asia. Here the Japanese entrepreneur found willing partners in in Liu Zhenya, China’s UHV transmission pioneer. The duo liked up with Hwan-Eik Cho, president/CEO of Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), a South Korean public power company. In March 2016, these three organisations were joined by Rosseti, a Russian electric power and grid operator.
Caption: Russian President Vladimir Putin with Rosseti CEO Andrei Ryumin
The quartet signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to conduct technical and economic feasibility studies toward creating the international transmission network in Northeast Asia.
The agreement has yielded the idea of establishing a “Golden Ring” serving most of Asia. To turn the idea into reality, it is envisaged that the wind energy generated in Mongolia can be transmitted to Japan, through China and South Korea via undersea transmission cables. Besides, hydropower generated in Russia could be delivered to Japan and other nations. Son refers to these two energy transmission routes as the “Golden Ring” in Northeast Asia.
Taking Advantage of Diversity in Loads and Resources
Mika Ohbauashi, director of REI, has stated that this inter-regional grid integration can help maximize usage of renewable energy, which is dispersed geographically. Once the grid systems are joined, it would be possible to take advantage of different load patterns, including peaking periods. By taking advantage of the diversity in loads and resources, the ASG can increase the flexibility of the grid systems in each nation.
Renewable energy is also proving cost effective. For instance, the cost of bringing hydro-electricity from Russia to Japan via undersea transmission cables is below 10.5 cents/kWh, which is the cost of electricity generated by a coal-fired power plant in Japan. Similarly, the cost of bringing wind energy generated in Mongolia via China and then South Korea to Japan is also estimated to be below 10.5 cents/kWh.
“Renewable is clean and safe, but used to be very expensive,” Son of SoftBank has been quoted as saying. He adds: “By sharing renewable energy with each other, renewable is now clean, safe, and stable and low-cost.”
While Japan has been focusing on renewables, especially post-Fukushima, Liu Zhenya, formerly of China’s StateGrid appears to be more source neutral. Liu has proposed a Global Grid that will draw electricity from windmills at the North Pole and vast solar arrays in Africa’s deserts, and then distribute the power to all corners of the world. Among other benefits, according to Liu, the system will produce “a community of common destiny for all mankind with blue skies and green land.”
India can become a major fulcrum in the Asia Super Grid. SoftBank has already declared that construction is under way on a 350-megawatt solar plant in India’s Andhra Pradesh state, with the company aiming to establish a 20 GW project in the country, eventually.
According to a map of the Asia Super Grid released by the REI, wind electricity generated in Mongolia would be transited to Beijing. From the Chinese capital it will be sent to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China. Chengdu becomes the junction from where power is transmitted across Tibet to Bhutan, from where it heads towards Delhi and sold at a cost of $ 0.14 per KW/h. Under ASG projections, Dhaka is another junction from where electricity would be transmitted to Chennai at a cost of $ 0.1 per KW/h. The ever-expanding nexus of grids also envisages India’s role both as a mega-consumer as well as a platform for power supply and transit to Sri Lanka. Further opportunities can be explored in this direction.
In fact, like Europe’s coal and steel community, which became the precursor of the European Union (EU), the ASG can become the nucleus of an Asian Union (AU), in the years to come.
While the economics of an ASG seems to be in place, geopolitical thought is severely lagging. For instance, mistrust between India and China, is likely to come in the way as the project involves development of critical infrastructure.
While India and China can start a bilateral energy dialogue as a follow-up of the breakthrough meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek a solution, it maybe prudent to involve Russia in the conversation as Moscow is a major party in the ASG constellation. Consequently, energy partnership could be a major topic of deliberation with the Russia-India-China (RIC) subgroup, which has already held institutionalized meetings at the level of foreign ministers before the Covid pandemic struck.
The RIC in turn can invite Japan as a partner in the discussion on the ASG project, which can take-off based on goodwill, inter-dependence, and evaluating geo-economic advantages, which are substantial enough to override geopolitical differences.
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