«We need to better understand the value in the proposed European
Supergrid in managing wind variability versus other options, and taking account of the need to deal with prolonged periods of low wind across Europe.
Not exact matches
If those issues are resolved and the North Sea grid does get developed, the idea would be for it
in turn to form part of the much - debated European
supergrid, supposed to be able to seamlessly transport power from the wind - rich north and sun - soaked south to the center, from where most of the demand originates.
None of these challenges can be solved
in isolation but rather require solutions like clean energy
supergrids and microgrids that address energy poverty and reduce climate change pollution at the same time.
I'd like to say «no thanks» to the intercontinental electrical
supergrids discussed
in the «Green grid» feature (14 March, p...
Such «
supergrids» form the core of many ambitious plans for 100 % renewable power production, especially
in Europe.
Perhaps more interesting, however, is the idea of the «
supergrid,» where HVDC lines are used to interconnect entire continents with electricity so that electricity created
in one place (such as solar power
in the U.S. desert southwest or the Sahara Desert or wind power from offshore wind farms
in the windy North Sea) is available wherever it's needed, no matter how far away that electricity is used.
The Desertec Foundation and the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) have entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote an Asian
supergrid necessary for the expansion of renewable energy
in Asia.
The report concludes that the global supply chain engaged
in electrical interconnection is already making the necessary investment for the creation of the first legs of a pan-European electricity transmission network, or
Supergrid.
Europe, too, is beginning to think seriously of investing
in a continental
supergrid.
For example, when the
Supergrid is available if there is no wind
in the Mediterranean and Italy is short of power, surplus hydro - power from Norway could be routed to Italy.
The Swedish firm ABB Group, which has just completed a 400 - mile HVDC undersea cable linking Norway and the Netherlands, is partnering with Mainstream Renewable Power
in proposing to build the first stages of the
supergrid.
In this interview published in the latest edition of EWEA's Wind Directions magazine, Ana Aguado, CEO of Friends of the Supergrid, explores how this can be don
In this interview published
in the latest edition of EWEA's Wind Directions magazine, Ana Aguado, CEO of Friends of the Supergrid, explores how this can be don
in the latest edition of EWEA's Wind Directions magazine, Ana Aguado, CEO of Friends of the
Supergrid, explores how this can be done.
Several companies
in Norway have already begun building high voltage DC lines between Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany while Airtricity, an Irish wind power company, has plans to build what it calls a «
Supergrid» — which would connect offshore wind farms
in the Atlantic Ocean and Irish, North and Baltic seas with consumers
in northern Europe.
The key role of the international transmission grid
in enabling Europe's ongoing development of renewably generated electricity is clear, and the subject of an offshore «
Supergrid» to connect North Sea countries with one another and with Norway's hydro resource (and potentially with a future Mediterranean solar resource) has been discussed
in recent issues of REW (see volume 14/2, March - April 2011).
But then, unlike Pöyry, they were all looking across the whole of Europe, North and South - a wider footprint - and
in some cases (e.g. Gregor Czich's seminal
supergrid work) the windy east and North Africa as well, with a full
supergrid network linking
in wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydro and other renewables.
By contrast,
in the «stretch» scenarios, it is assumed that interconnection creates a European market for the UK's excess power, and that it becomes economic to build much more renewable capacity
in the UK - with up to a 35GW
supergrid interconnection.
Therefore, given uncertainty over future markets,
in the core scenarios, they do not assume a European market for UK renewable power, and they only have a 3GW
supergrid interconnection.