by Brianna Crandall — November 4, 2016 — As global demand for electricity continues to grow, and as concerns over climate change mount, the importance of meeting power needs while reducing costs and climate impacts is increasing. Much of the focus is on decentralized solutions, but one emerging solution that would transform the sector in the opposite direction is the concept of supergrids — carefully planned networks of high-voltage transmission systems that span countries, continents, and eventually the globe that enable the integration of renewable power on a bulk scale.
A new report from Navigant Research examines the global market for supergrids, assessing key drivers and barriers to development and providing details on current projects, while forecasting the size of the market through 2025. According to the report, global supergrid investments are expected to increase from $8.3 billion in 2016 to $10.2 billion by the end of 2025.
Jessica Lewis, senior research analyst with Navigant Research, explained:
While regional supergrids could bring cleaner, more efficient, and more cost-effective electric power systems, their development is complicated by a number of factors. These include limited political will, lack of harmonized standards, complex authorization and permitting procedures for cross-border transmission projects, and a conventional view of energy security as a national imperative, with individual countries reluctant to leave their supply security in the hands of others.
Although complications exist, the idea that coordinated supergrids would allow high-volume electricity trade across long distances and facilitate development of renewables where the resource potential is strongest, rather than where it is most convenient, is driving interest. According to the report, Asia Pacific currently represents the largest regional market for supergrid investment, accounting for an estimated 66 percent through 2025.
The report, Supergrids, analyzes the market for supergrids, assessing key drivers and barriers to supergrid development and forecasting the size of the supergrid market through 2025. The study evaluates the trajectory of supergrid development by region and highlights examples of supergrid proposals at different geographic scales.
Examples of supergrid initiatives covered in this report range from transmission corridors to carry renewable power to distant load centers within the same country to calls for a global supergrid linking wind power in the Arctic and solar power at the equator to end users around the world. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research Web site.
