AsianScientist (Mar. 16, 2012) – A year after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the DESERTEC Foundation and the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) will start to co-operate on promoting an Asian Super Grid that will aid the expansion of renewable energy in Asia.
At the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Tokyo, the two non-profits announced that they will work together to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy to provide secure and sustainable alternatives to fossil and nuclear energies in the region.
The Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), founded in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, aims as part of its mission to facilitate an electricity system based fully on renewable energy in Asia.
This initiative envisions the interconnection of the national grids of Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, and Russia with low-loss High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines.
These transmission lines would enable the delivery of electricity from the region’s most abundant renewable energy sources to its centers of demand whilst simultaneously balancing out the peaks and troughs of fluctuating renewable energy sources over a wider area.
“Technologies to harness solar and wind energy have improved dramatically in the last few years. Establishing an Asian Super Grid will be challenging and require a high-level of international collaboration but its benefits make it worth the effort,” said Dr. Tomas Kåberger, JREF Executive Board Chair.
The DESERTEC Foundation has already conducted a feasibility study on potential grid corridors to make best use of the region’s desert sun, according to its press statement.
“The efficient use of the practically inexhaustible energy of the East Asian desert sun in combination with the expansion of renewable energies can sustainably improve living conditions for current and future generations in the region,” said Dr. Thiemo Gropp, Director of the DESERTEC Foundation.
“It also offers Asian countries the chance to take a leading role in the fight against climate change by harnessing the most abundant of all energy sources on earth,” Gropp added.
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Source: DESERTEC Foundation.
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