Europe Planning Supergrids that'll Provide 100% Clean Energy

editorawais

It seems like Europe is following the example of the US as the European Commission is urging European countries to build the so-called supergrids. The EC wants the countries to build regional electric transmission connections through the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, so that all solar, wind, and wave power be distributed across the continent.

The EC is expecting renewable energies to provide 20 percent of European energy needs by 2020, and more after this period. Currently, 8.5 percent of the European energy consumption comes from renewable energies therefore the EC wants the countries to leave all disagreements behind and build supergrids across Europe.

As in the USA, the states are becoming more cooperative and wind power “moves” from the Midwest to major cities, this is the case in Europe, where France accepted a new electric transmission connection with Spain, after 15 years of misunderstandings. All other European countries should follow this example and build strong agreements and, of course, new transmission connections between nations.

According to the EC, in Europe “there is little strategic planning” and “the wind power which consumers demand cannot be delivered without new networks. This agreement was also praised by Christian Kjaer, CEO of the European Wind Energy Association, who said that this is a “major breakthrough” and “a good example of why we need more than a national approach.”

However, it’s not easy to design such supergrids, but thanks to 3E, a Brussels-based environmental consulting firm, the countries along the North Sea offshore could form a network that would link together 68,000MW-worth of offshore wind farms. The map that 3E designed consists of 3,500 miles of HVDC (high-voltage DC technology) cables across the North Sea. Like aforementioned, the cables would connect North Sea offshore wind farms that would provide 13 percent of the energy demands of the region.

As always, the political challenges are impeding the construction of supergrids. According to Kjaer, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany are planning to build large offshore wind farms which would generate 640 megawatts each. The problem is that they won’t build them with coordinated transmission, and they will built them individually.

“They are talking about taking one grid into Sweden, and one into Germany, and then you have the Danes. It makes no sense,” said Kjaer. And he’s right as the wind farms will be a few miles away of each other and they should build them with coordinated transmission as it would cost less and it would bring an extra value for the countries. A supergrid between Germany and Sweden, would send the extra wind power from Germany to Sweden, and respectively, would send the extra hydro power from Sweden to Germany.

Another advantage for Europe is that they are close to North Africa and in theory, “Europe and North Africa can source all of their electricity from renewable sources,” says Gregor Czisch, an energy consultant in Kassel, Germany.

Czisch says that a supergrid based on HVDC-technology lines can send clean power across thousands of miles and the losses will still be minimal. The supergrid that Czisch proposes, shows Europe and North Africa providing 70 percent of the energy needs thanks to wind power, while the rest would come from Scandinavia and their hydropower, other African solar power farms, and biomass-fueled power plants.

The only problem that remains would be is that we wouldn’t have to do anything with the power plants that already exist. They couldn’t take part to the supergrid, but Czisch says that “the utilities are thinking about the supergrid, but not too fast. We really need an independent organization which can do the calculations necessary.”

Well, I’m pretty disappointed to hear this at the end. It really gives me the impression that supergrids and hundreds of years away. The truth is that we really need an organization to do the calculations, but we need it really fast and we need it to make nations accept taking part to the supergrid. We’re still waiting, but it may be too late for our descendants and for mother Earth.

happyhappy · Initiator Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 1408 Gender:

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm,.

Very nice and environment friendly,.

good thinking,.