A NEW ASIAN SUPER-POWER GRID: JAPAN PROPOSED IT, AND CHINA LIKES ...
Not all the big news during the last two weeks has been about space. There's been another development, one apparently just starting, that probably has a few jaws on the floor in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Canberra, New Delhi, and a few other places. In fact, when Mr. J.H. shared this article, I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.:
Asian “super grid” the first step towards a global, interconnected, renewable energy grid
The essence of the idea is nothing less than a globally interconnected energy grid:
Clean, renewable energy will soon be cheaper than traditional polluting sources - but there's still a big problem. It tends to get generated in inconvenient places, at inconvenient times that don't necessarily match up with where it's needed.
...
It's simple enough; whenever there's a big power load somewhere, there's somewhere else in the world where that demand matches up with a generation spike. When it's noon in the Gobi desert, and solar generation is at its peak, it's dinner time in the UK and everyone's boiling kettles.
The first step for GEIDCO is to build a connected Asia Super Grid that could bring the theoretically huge renewable energy generation capabilities of North China's Gobi desert as far east as Japan.
(Emphasis added)
And there you have the essence of why my jaw was on the floor: a Chinese-Japanese integrated power grid, especially when the two counties have...well, a "history" in a little fracas called World War Two. And of course, the geopolitical history is hinted at here:
The first step for GEIDCO is to build a connected Asia Super Grid that could bring the theoretically huge renewable energy generation capabilities of North China's Gobi desert as far east as Japan.
The entire idea is contingent on ultra high voltage power transmission lines, thousands of miles operating at more than 1,000 kilovolts AC/800 kilovolts DC. High voltages reduce losses over long distances, and both Russia and Japan already have hundreds (in Russia's case thousands) of miles of ultra high voltage lines up and running. These pale in comparison to China's infrastructure; since 2009 China has built nearly 10,000 miles of UHV power lines, with about the same again to come online in the next two years.
The larger GEIDCO's interconnected web of renewable energy becomes, the more stable the supply is, because it's less dependent on individual sources, so moving toward a global energy network that shares power from Greenland to South Africa, Australia to Switzerland is the ultimate goal.
But now there's more information about all of this, in this article shared by Mr. P.K.:
In the latter article you'll note that Russia, South Korea, China and Japan have already signed a memorandum of understanding to create just such a grid:
Entrepreneurs in China, South Korea, Russia, and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that seeks to create the Asia Super Grid. It will transmit electrical power from renewable sources from areas of the world that are best able to produce it to consumers in other parts of the world. The idea is dependent on development of an ultra-high voltage grid operating at more than 1,000 kilovolts AC and 800 kilovolts DC over thousands of kilometers. It envisions interconnecting grids across regions, nations, and even continents with a capacity of over 10 gigawatts.
But notice also that the "brains" behind this effort are not just the Chinese, but a Japanese businessman:
The concept is the result of an idea by Masayoshi Son, founder and head of the telecom and Internet giant SoftBank Group. After the devastation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Son was so shocked by events that he established the Renewable Energy Institute soon aftewards to help develop and promote renewable energy.
“I was a total layman (in renewable energy) at the time of the earthquake,” Son told an audience attending in Tokyo last Friday. But perhaps his lack of technical knowledge is what allowed him to conceive of the Asia Super Grid. His idea was to tap the wind and solar energy power available in the Gobi Desert region of China, estimated to be equivalent to thousands of nuclear reactors. “People said it was crazy, too grand a scheme…politically impossible,” he added.
But soon, he had attracted interest from Korea Electric Power Company and the State Grid Corporation of China. Soon Russian power company PSJC Rosseti came on board as well. The next step in the process was the establishment of the nonprofit Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization in Beijing this past March. GEIDCO is led by Liu Zhenya, former chairman of State Grid. Members include the four Asia Super Grid signatories, as well as utilities, universities, and equipment manufacturers from 14 countries.
Now, I don't know about you, but this was another jaw-dropper, again, because historically, there's no love lost between Korea, China, and Japan, because of the Japanese occupation of the former, and invasion of China, and then, subsequently, the Chinese invasion of Korea. Getting these countries to agree on anything as sweeping as integrated power grids, even at just an "entrepreneurial" level, is huge. But in Asia, were commerce goes, politics usually follows, Japanese emperors, or Chinese or South Korean dictators notwithstanding. Notably the Japanese role in this occurs after the Fukushima-Daichi disaster, a disaster which can only have been looked at and studied closely in China and South Korea, with their own heavy reliance on nuclear power.
Looking deeper, however, this is another sign of how serious the Chinese are with their huge commercial "silk road" project, for an integrated power grid system can only further the aims of that project. Japan and Korea's involvement here signals that these two Asian technological powerhouses could conceivably be hoping to participate in the "solar" aspects of such a grid: recall only that Japanese plan from a couple of years ago to turn the entire Moon into a solar collection power plant, a scheme quickly denounced by the Chinese as but an attempt to create a Japanese "death star" on the Moon. Here, however, I suspect both Korea and Japan are hoping to become not only customersi to such a renewable power energy grid, but suppliers to it as well.
And to complete this high octane speculation, I suspect this means that Seoul and Tokyo realize that they have to find some way to enter that vast silk road project for the integration of the Eur-Asian landmass. So how will the geopolitical aspects of this grid be managed? Look for some announcement, probably coming from Moscow, Beijing, or Tokyo, proposing a multi-power board coordinating it all, ultimately to encompass the European powers participating in it as well. It will be a form of "electrical multilateralism" on parade, and notably, by-passing the United States altogether.
For now this is a story, a "memorandum of understanding," but this is, nevertheless, one to watch, for its geopolitical consequences are literally earth-changing.
See you on the flip side...
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@”And there you have the essence of why my jaw was on the floor: a Chinese-Japanese integrated power grid, especially when the two counties have…well, a “history” in a little fracas called World War Two. And of course, the geopolitical history is hinted at here”
i think “a Chinese-Japanese integrated power grid” is but “aftermath” of this development,
not to mention, AIIB’s president Jin liqun was vice president at the ‘Japanese-led’ ADB before switching to his current position at the AIIB,
so no surprise to see the Chinese and the Japanese are actually working together on infrastructure projects.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/china-unveils-proposal-50-trillion-global-electricity-network-n548376
also, the fact this joint power grid happened in the same year the “troublesome” Hinkley, a joint project between Britain, France (where ITER is located and making little progress for some reason) and China that has been finalized,
and the ‘breakthrough’ in nuclear fusion technology in China earlier this year, which happens to be a ‘partner’ at the Hinkley, i suspect these developments are all connected,
it seems there is a concerted effort to ‘revolutionize’ energy consumption on a global scale,
question is, will the technological advancement also ‘revolutionize’ international and interplanetary relations, as this development of the Japanese-Chinese joint power grid might be heralding.
and is that the reason why the ‘power that still are’ are so reluctant and afraid to let these technologies out, because once they allow that to happen, their old world order paradigm will be shattered.
as for the “history” between these two countries,
lets not forget there is even more “history” than mere “World War 2” between these nations for them to work together instead of the opposite.
case in point,
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201608281044714605-korea-china-japan-olympics/
Depressing news since they wouldn’t be making this move if they had zero-point energy within sight. Too bad the gov stole Tesla’s work from the public.
Tesla Towers anyone? No need for thousands of miles of costly copper cable.
exactly,
and what have they been doing with all these advanced electro-magnetic anti gravity technologies for the last decades without a proper “international treaty”,
preparing for interplanetary WW3?
and forget about ‘nuclear armageddon’ or even ‘nuclear terrorism’ since these advanced technologies can cause much more damage if mishandled.
sure, technology-wise, you could say “why not just build a tesla tower”,
without taking the consideration of the current geopolitical reality where there are still thousands of nuclear war heads pointed at each other between nations.
to understand “why copper wires?”
one might need to look at what they are pursuing besides pushing a “global energy grid” at the same time,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-05/07/c_133316922.htm
after the “Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone” treaty was signed by the major nuclear powers in central Asia back in 2014, the Chinese explicitly stated the country want to see more “nuclear free zones” to be established in the world, and eventually the completely elimination of the nuclear weapons on the planet.
in other words, they are trying to ‘demilitarize nuclear technology’,
in that sense, the proposal of “a global energy grid” is an attempt to “demilitarize” any technologies, particularly energy generating, that might be utilized in the near future on a global scale,
like everyone can build anywhere in the world a tesla tower and get unlimited power, sure, but it could also be catastrophic if mishandled, and what mechanism is there to prevent that from happening, if not a one that is ‘globally connected’.
So why not “copper wires”
one more thing i want to add,
is that one can not fully understand what the Chinese are doing and why they are doing it through a purely “Western prism”, without taking into consideration of the country’s own unique cultural characteristics and history.
for instance, when China launched the world’s first quantum communications satellite early this, most of the focus was on the technological aspect of it, like “hack-proof”, few bothered to see what was the satellite called.
They named it “Mozi”, after the 4th century B.C. Chinese philosopher from the ‘warring states’ period, who was famous for his advocacy of the idea of “to love, not to attack” during otherwise a turbulent and violent period in Chinese history.
Mozi was also a brilliant engineer and inventor. One of his most famous deeds was he stopped a military invasion by a powerful kingdom against a smaller state.
When Mozi heard the powerful Chu was preparing an invasion of Song state he travelled to the kingdom,
with the help of another legendary engineer of the time, the Chu had at its disposal powerful siege weapons, Mozi built defensive weapons and demonstrated to them if the Chu dare to attack Song their siege weapons would be no match for his superior defensive designs, the Chu then threatened to kill Mozi, Mozi told them his hundreds of disciples will use the defensive weapons he designed to help defend the Song, so it does not matter if the Chu kills him or not. The Chu had no choice but to abandon their invasion plan.
so the launch of the satellite “Mozi” was a demonstration of technological advencement but also there is a cultural symbolism associated with it.
something “Western prism” tend to overlook.
the same is with the proposal of the “global energy grid”, one can not simply look at it “technology-wise”, to understand its potential “cultural implication”, one might need to look at what they are proposing culturally that are also “global” in nature,
like the idea of “a Harmonious World” and “a Community of Common Destiny”,
though i prefer it to be called “common destiny as human beings”
because ultimately there is a spiritual component to this.
in essense, these ideas are not so different from what Dr.Steven Greer has been advocating for years, what he calls “universal peace of humanity”, these are long-term designs aimed at not only reshaping international relations, but also at shaping future “interplanetary relations”.
I hope they make the effort to shield it against CME’s otherwise it won’t fare any better than a more localized power grid and could, potentially, black out even more of the planet should it suffer one. As the magnetic field strength weakens due to the slowly oncoming pole shift even the smaller class CME’s would have disastrous effects.
I hope Trump decides to upgrade the USSA’s power grid as part of his infrastructure improvement. It could use it.
Good point about CMEs. I wonder if “ultra high voltage power transmission lines” are more or less susceptible than standard transmission lines to the currents induced by a CME…
I can’t say how hopeful this blog/article made me feel! There are multiple aspects to be addressed, of course, but this could be the initial ‘seed’ to bring the planet together. A much-more-positive path than building more and more weapons to offset your neighbors building more and more weapons…
In a way, this feels very ‘Internet-y’, in a DARPA sense of the word. Multiple systems, interconnected in such a way that war or major disaster cannot do more than degrade the system. Not wipe it out. If the Cylons come, do you want a few major ‘bases’ or a whole planet wired-in?
Speaking of which, I hope that good PTB have learned from Fukushima. Every major connection or switch should be analog, and – even better – have a human nearby to throw a physical (not electrical) switch or circuit-breaker. This is more costly, but is good ‘life insurance’ against negative PTB actions…
The ultimate ‘goodness’ of this planetwide power-grid is that it makes war for power-resources much less needed. We need to avoid an OPEC-like ‘cartel’ situation, but – with foresight – it may be possible to construct a power-grid ‘democracy’. If so, the negative PTB may be on the ropes…
At last, that land I bought in the Gobi desert from that pushy Asian lady who gives me my facials and pedicures will finally pay off. She said they were going to build millions of condos for single men there one day, but a renewable energy park works just as well in my book. Although, if I know my Chinese, there will be less solar and wind power and more Chinese coolies running on giant treadmills below ground. Perhaps those were the kind of condos she was talking about? I guess in China, every word is just a euphemism for treadmill. I would imagine a lot of these bumpkins, enticed to move to the Gobi desert for the reward of luxury condo living, won’t even notice they are actually living inside a treadmill. Also, seems like an ingenious way to utilize all their pent up libidinous energy. Probably more power in these frustrated, obsolete bachelors than the Sun itself. The Chinese sure don’t let anything go to waste.
I just wonder what other big ideas the asians have agreed upon? Maybe that caucasian people are bad for the planet? (Thank you very much banksters and nazis). It won’t be long before they decide Earth isn’t big enough for both asians and caucasians. I wouldn’t even be surprised if we start seeing memes coming out of Chinese owned Hollywood about the joys of emigrating to Mars, and the exceptional pioneering spirit of white people. We might even start hearing the meme that caucasians are from Mars and it is our manifest destiny to return and reclaim our homeland. I can hear those evangelicals now, with their newly printed bibles published in Korea and their pockets stuffed with Chinese renminbi, exhorting every white person to return to our Mars promised land, as has been proclaimed in the Book of Ezekiel and the Gospel of Mathew.
We will probably even get reports from the Ivy League medical journals (now published in the Shanghai headquarters of the American Education and Loan Corporation) about the the incongruity of of caucasian skin with Earth’s ample sunlight o how caucasian circadian rhythm is more in tune with Mars than it is to Earth. Now of course some caucasian people will be left behind to replace the Chinese coolies on the treadmill (if they don’t have a renewable energy treadmill grid waiting for us on Mars) and other caucasian will be left behind to serve as maids, butlers and tailors for the affluent asians who will still need to be tutored in European manners, etiquette, customs, and fashion sense.
I just wonder how this Gobi energy grid will hold up against a stuxnet attack?
I wonder if Trump has plans of his own for a global energy grid using Tesla technology squirreled away by Professor Uncle Trump? Maybe president elect Trump is crazy like a fox and knows the only way to role out an entirely new, paradigm shattering energy system is to be president of the USA. Maybe Trump’s real estate holdings across the planet aren’t just for rich jet setters to play golf and pass gas in gilded jacuzzis but actually will serve as future installations for his tesla energy systems. So the question that then must be asked: is Trump doing this for the benefit of humanity, or is his megalomania so great, his genius so astounding, and his bravado so fantastic, that he really is making a grab for total personal control of planet Earth? No wonder why he always had such a dismissive chuckle for that other megalomaniac, Hillary Clinton. She wasn’t anywhere even in the same league. And George Soros? Forget about it. Trump will eat him for lunch. Even Ian Fleming couldn’t think up a rogue with this much hutzpah.
Wow! four for four on the comments without moderation. It must be my lucky night. I think I’ll go sit in on a poker game. .
Vominto Blanco
The bot has moved on to fake news
for google and facebook.
More hatchet burying, so I trust the 2nd world war is finally in the past. More and more countries are making decisions that reflect more common sense than making guns, tanks and anything else that kills people. For those boys in DC, it’s more sleepless nights and closed door meetings, well somebody has to do it right??
The monkey wrench in the machine is the West addiction to torture and murder called warfare. Tribal war, narcissism is their reason for being and always been resource wars is only a excuse for their proactives . The major problem is that this plan would be it’s vulnerability to sabotage both economically and politically.
Ancient astronaut theorists say Yes!
Of course, they are the ones promoting an alien viewpoint that serves their purpose.
They are the ones spreading these alien memes far and wide. All the better to globalize under our privatized proprietary umbrella of transnational/multination corporations. If they have to, they will conjure up some alien proof[no, not alien whiskey, although it would sell to infinity & beyond].
Are the Rootenchids one of the known Families behind this?
Will they say that globalization is required by our space federation cousins that are out of this world organized?
I want some Romulan ale!
Globalization by might of arms appears to be failing miserably and the Amerikan empire is crumbling. I can’t help but suspect that this is by design. The world grows weary of the endless wars and hubris of Washington and its neocons. Whether we like it or not, the elite are steering the world toward globalization. If they can’t achieve it one way they will achieve it another. It is still global centralization of power, money and resources into the hands of fewer and fewer people all sold to us as “beneficial”.
The old oil based dynasties are dying off, or converting, and the younger, newer energy based dynasties are beginning to take over. The goal remains the same.
The standard rule from the shadows is still in place. Those who would oppose it are taken down in whatever manner best suits the situation. I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Those who have the money and power will impose their will on those who do not.
“The Grand Chessboard” .. “Game of Thrones” .. “Alien Agenda” .. “The Late Great Planet Earth” .. the beat goes on ……………………….
It would destroy the Gobi desert habitat. Better idea would be to convert every roof into a solar collecting grid and design buildings to maximize their poer production. Solar panel materials are becoming highly efficient and with cheaper materials. A lot of new super carbon and boron based electric storage devices have been discovered lately as well that should make this global monstrocity obsolete before it even begins.
There are several sides to this multidimensional “coin”. It doesn’t take much digging to see the potential of solar energy, and there is a lot of evidence out there to show that this source could easily become extremely productive even without weaponising the Moon. The geopolitical conditions are maturing for the antisolar technology suppression by Big Oil to stop. And this will mean that the 60 year old nuclear fission technology will also be shown to be obsolete as a power source.
One disturbing aspect of the project is the emphasis on a single grid, which sounds more like a way to control energy and provide it at still-exhorbitant costs rather than providing it almost free. In other words, a not-so-veileed call for economic and therefore political centralisation rather than a way to power electric kettles in London while Tokyoites sleep. The Chinese and Japanese State-obsessed mindset would just love this as much as the Western oligarchs do.
In other words, a top-down Eurasian integration driven not by the people but by the big electric power bureaucracies. With the added inconvenience that such grids are open to interference from space, either manmade or due to plain old-fashioned solar flares.
Well it wasnt gonna happen in the West with the Petrol Consortiums making sure that Politicians are well funded in coke, money and small children, to actually make them choose clean renewable energy.
Good news for our Asian friends, finally, electricity available to everyone to provide power for hospitals, water purifiers, heating and lighting.
Sound like a good thing to me.
Lets remember the ‘buzz word’, its will be “cheaper” to use renewable energy.
The question is, “cheaper” for whom?
Exactly!