As demand for electricity in the Asia-Pacific region rapidly grows, the issue of energy cooperation between nations becomes more relevant. The creation of an energy ring connecting the region’s power grids is on the agenda at the economic forum in Vladivostok.
Connecting the complexity of the grid systems of Russia, Mongolia, China, Japan and South Korea, sounds like a good idea to BP’s CEO Robert Dudley, who talked exclusively to RT at the forum.
“Being able to combine the regularity of hydropower with wind and solar sounds like technically a really good idea,” Dudley said, adding there could be advantages to ordinary consumers as well.
He said the Asian Energy Supergrid project as well as the European Supergrid are complex projects because they are cross-border projects and require a lot of governmental regulation and cooperation but investment in them could be significant.
“That’s not the kind of investment that BP makes, but it looks to me like a very interesting idea if the governments chose a right pathway,” the head of BP said.
The idea of creating an energy ring in the Asia-Pacific region was suggested by Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank at the St. Petersburg economic forum.
The project involves installing about 600 kilometers of undersea power cables to connect China with South Korea, Japan with South Korea, and Japan with Russia.
"I want to establish a power grid spanning Northeast Asia by 2020," said SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son.
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As part of the project a large wind power farm will be built in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. It will supply electricity (enough to power roughly 6.25 million households) to Japan and other countries in Northeast Asia through an interconnected power grid.
The project also aims to cut pollution as it involves the use of renewable energy sources such as wind power and solar energy.
"While Northeast Asia is the engine of the global economy, the region also emits large amounts of carbon dioxide. If the situation is left unaddressed, humanity as a whole will regret it," said the SoftBank CEO.