Imagine

Imagine an Asian electricity grid anchored by China at one end and Australia on the other. The grid would carry and distribute hemispheric solar, geothermal, wind and wave energy, picked on the way.

The 10,000-kilometer long electricity transmission system stretching from Beijing to the Great Australian Bight would harness Australian concentrating solar power, geothermal, wind and wave energy and carry these northward to where the demand is. Geothermal power of Indonesia's volcanoes, wind farms in China will add their mite.

The writer suggests that Southeast Asian natural gas and Laotian and Vietnamese hydro power plants could provide 'load balancing’. Even China's Three Gorges Dam might find a role as hemispheric provider of peaking power. It goes on to suggest ways in which every region could contribute.

Grandiose plans with ambitious objectives. Eventually we can imagine a grid connecting the whole planet. But will it succeed? Even within a nation, linking the many regional grids face a lot of technical and political hurdles. Can an international grid work? For instance the same group proposing this has also drawn up plans for generating CSP in Africa and transmitting it to Europe.

Are these feasible? Smart grid deployment may be able to address the technical issues but not the socio-economic ones. Whether it be climate change or energy, nations are more caught up in guarding their interests. Will such sharing work? What do you think? Or will we first need to work towards the beautiful vision Lennon had, when penning Imagine.