The ‘transmission between countries’, which produces eco-friendly electricity in countries rich in wind and solar power and supplies it to other countries, is expanding. Electricity transactions between countries will become more active because it is difficult to create a power generation environment and secure a power plant construction site for eco-friendly energy. A new global transmission map has already been formed, with the UK promoting electricity supply from Morocco and Singapore from neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
Xlinks, a venture company, is working on a project to send wind and solar energy produced in Morocco to the UK. It is a large-scale project that requires the installation of a 2,500-mile submarine transmission network. Through this, it plans to meet 8% of Britain’s electricity demand and supply 7 million homes with power. Xlinks secured a primary investment worth £100 million in April. However, subsidies from the British government must be obtained and tens of billions of dollars of additional fundraising is required. Additionally, permission from the countries through which the grid passes must be secured for the construction of the submarine transmission network. The entire project requires £22 billion to £24 billion.
Nevertheless, Xlinks CEO Simon Morisch is confident that the project can be successful. This is because Morocco is one of the world’s largest clean energy reserves because it has at least 10 hours of sun a day in the west and strong winds at night. “I wonder why no one would do this,” he said. “This project is the best option for the UK’s clean energy plan.”
The UK is already receiving eco-friendly electricity from Denmark. This is through the world’s longest land and sea transmission network ‘Viking Link’, which is 764km long. The UK has started receiving 800 megawatts of eco-friendly electricity through this North Sea submarine cable, and plans to increase its transmission capacity to 1.4 gigawatts.
Undersea power lines are attracting attention in terms of resolving regional imbalances. Coal and gas power plants do not require long power lines because they can be built near areas that require power. Eco-friendly energy, on the other hand, has many limitations. Eco-friendly power plants are mostly far from large cities that require electricity because they must be installed in windy areas and in places that receive sufficient sunlight. It is also difficult to secure large-scale sites to build eco-friendly power plants near cities.
Singapore, which lacks space to build wind and solar power plants, has decided to import 30% of its total electricity by 2035. Last year, it conditionally approved a plan to import most of its electricity by installing more than 600 miles of undersea cables from renewable energy projects in neighboring countries Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam.
If the transmission network between countries expands, demand for submarine cables is likely to increase. As a result, cable shortages may occur. Nexans, a high-voltage direct current cable supplier, has sold all cables it has produced over the past five years. WSJ reported that competitors have similar backlogs of orders.
Meridiam, a public infrastructure construction company, is a major investor in the cross-country transmission network project linking the U.K. and Germany. It also plans to invest in the Great Sea Interconnector, a 750-mile-long project that will connect Greece and Israel via Cyprus. The weight of cables used in the project is as heavy as the Eiffel Tower, explained Pascal Radu, head of the Power and Transmission Department at Nexaens.
“The projects we are trying are larger than previous projects in both size and power volume,” he stressed.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
