WG C1.

35
technical brochure 775
Global electricity network – Feasibility
study

Members
J.YU, Convenor (CN), G.SANCHIS, Secretary (FR), K.BAKIC (SI),
N.CHAMOLLET (FR), A.KUMAR (SE), M.LE DU (FR), A.ILICETO (IT), Y .ZHANG (CN),
L.BELEKE TABU (RDC), S.CHATZIVASILEIADIS (DK), JL.RUAUD (RDC), D.RADU (BE),
J.FAN (CN), M.BERGER (BE), B.COVA (IT), M.STABILE (IT),
H.LI (CN), F.HEYMANN (PT), D.ERNST (BE), MA.DUPRE LA TOUR (FR), R.FONTENEAU (BE),
MM.DE VILLENA (BE), M.THEKU (ZA), M.RANJBAR (IR)

Introduction emissions on the climate, the energy awareness of the

With the development of the Renewable Energy population has changed.
Sources worldwide, the concept of a global electricity
network has been imagined in order to take advantage In this respect the 2015 United Nations Climate
of the diversity from different time zones, seasons, Change Conference, COP 21, agreed to a final global
load patterns and the intermittency of the generation, pact to reduce their carbon output, and to do their best
thus supporting a balanced coordination of power to keep global warming below 2°C.
supply of all interconnected countries.
In the fight against climate changes, beside energy
In 2016, CIGRE decided to launch a feasibility study efficiency, the development of renewable energies
on this concept of global electricity network. In this is also an essential element. It requires the
respect, the WG C1.35 has been set up to provide a implementation of ambitious co-development projects
possible geographical and technical configuration and to build wind and solar power plants in a large scale
preconditions for its feasibility considering technology and to be able to transmit the electricity over long
and economical aspects. distance to consumptions areas.

The TB presents the results of this CIGRE concept The main driving force behind the Global Grid is
study. It addresses the challenges, benefits and the harvesting of remote renewable sources, and
issues of uneven distribution of energy resources its key infrastructure element is the high capacity
across the world. The time horizon selected is 2050. long transmission lines. Wind farms and solar power
The study includes sensitivity analysis to different plants could supply load centers with green power
factors: the capacity factors, the technology costs, and over long distances.
the flexibility of the demand.
The resources were focused on the grid simulations
Background and analysis, using as most as possible data from past
and relevant international studies (e.g WEC).
The demand for electricity continues to grow as a
result of demographic changes, industrialization and Methodology
urbanization. The international energy references
like the International Energy Agency, and the World The study has limited the grid architecture to one
Energy Council (WEC) still confirm the increase of electrical node per region. This coarse granularity
the electricity consumption, going from 22000 TWh in is enough to provide a first quantitative assessment
2017 to 35000 TWh in 2040, and almost 40000 TWh of prospective interconnection capacities. Priority is
by 2050. given to the identification of major electric transmission
corridors, meaning higher than 2 GW.
With the exhaustion of fossil resources, the increase
and volatility of prices, the effects of greenhouse gas Although an interconnection between two regions •••

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Figure 1 - The 20 interconnections selected for the Global Grid assessment

is represented by only one corridor, such a corridor Results

must be understood as several lines connecting
the two regions. Hence, the capacity of any single For the reference case, meaning the isolated regions,
corridor between two regions corresponds to the without any interconnection between regions, the
sum of the capacities of all lines connecting these energy mix envisaged in 2050 by the WEC should lead
two regions. The technologies considered in this to an average cost of 54 €/MWh for generation. The
study include HVAC/HVDC overhead lines as well as RES share (hydro, biomass, wind and solar) of this
HVDC submarine cables. The figure 1 presents the 20 production is 53%. The estimated CO2 emissions are
interconnections selected. 850 million tons per year (Mt/yr).

The scope of the feasibility is limited to one scenario. For the case with interconnections, the wind, solar, and
However, the study performed different sensitivity gas production technologies are optimized together
analyses in order to assess the impact of parameters. with the interconnections capacities. Nuclear, coal with
CCS, biomass and hydro production capacities are
The table 1 introduces the different case studies. imposed according to the isolated-regions case. •••

• Reference cases
– Isolated zones with no interconnections Imposed productions
– Reference case with interconnections • following WEC scenario:
Nuclear, coal with CCS,
• Sensitivity studies biomass, hydro
• Wind and solar PV as in 2017
– Lower cost of interconnection between North-Africa and Europe
– Interconnection between Russia and North America made impossible Optimized productions,
– Sensitivity to a higher costs of interconnections together with
– Modification of wind capacity factors in Central Asia and North East Asia interconnections
• Gas technologies (CCGT with
– Sensitivity to the losses in the interconnections or without CCS, OCGT)
– Sensitivity to daily or seasonal storage possibilities • New wind and solar PV

• More theoretical cases

– Only production allowed : solar photovoltaic and wind
– Only production allowed : solar photovoltaic

Table 1 - The different case studies for the sensitivity analysis

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Figure 2 - The optimized capacities (GW) for generation and interconnections

The optimization procedure is seeking for a balance there is an excess of production in North America,
between the costs of the interconnections depending the interconnection is used to export it to Asia and
on their unit costs, and the benefits of mutualizing the Europe through Russia. On the opposite, when there
load curves of different zones and getting an access to is a lack of production in North America (negative
renewable productions with better capacity factors. residual production on the figure, mainly in summer
due to cooling) the interconnection is used from Russia
The figure 2 gives the optimized capacities (GW) either to North America, especially to get benefits of wind
for production and interconnection. The numbers in productions in Central Asia (region 6).
bracket [ ] give the annual cost of interconnection in
billion euros. The high level of interconnections in Asia allow for a
redistribution of production in the region. Much less
Different noticeable results can be seen on this figure. production for North-East Asia (region 4) and much
more production in Central Asia (zone 6, wind) and in
The most obvious one is the development of very South-East and South Asia (regions 5 and 7, wind and
important capacity interconnection around Central Asia solar), getting the benefits of better capacity factors.
(region 6):
- 409 GW to North-East Asia (region 4), Finally, the use of interconnections selected according
- 495 GW to South-East Asia (region 5), to their profitability, leads to an average cost of 48€/
- 240 GW to Russia (region 10). MWh for generation and interconnections. The RES
increases to 76%. The estimated CO2 emissions are
This development is linked to huge capacities of wind largely reduced to 343 Mt/yr.
productions in Central Asia, explained by the very good
capacity factors. The 1426 GW installed capacity for Although this solution requires 2600 GW for the
wind production is almost 10 times the total production cumulative capacity of the interconnections,
capacity installed in the reference case, with isolated representing 17% of the installed generation capacities,
regions, far beyond the only needs of this zone. The this solution is profitable.
interconnections are used to provide renewable energy
in all surrounding zones. The additional cost of the infrastructures (+100G€/
year) is largely compensated by the reduction of the
The most expensive interconnection capacity is generation costs (-350G€/yr). The replacement of gas
developed between Russia and North America: 183 production by wind and solar productions lowers the
GW for 27 G€/yr. This interconnection is connecting global cost of the system.
the Asian-European continent to the Americas and is
used in both directions. The main driver for the use The figure 3 shows the capacities and volume of
of this interconnection is the residual production in generation, for each technology, and for the case without
North America (i.e. total production – total load): when interconnections, and the case with interconnections. •••

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Figure 3 - The share of each production technology, capacities and volumes – reference case with interconnections

Figure 4 - The repartition of the annual cost, reference case with

interconnections

The replacement of gas production by wind and solar sources, instead of gas generation, reducing the total
productions lowers the global cost of the system. The cost for the worldwide community, and contributing to a
total production costs are 330 G€/yr lower as illustrated drastic reduction of CO2 emissions.
in the figure 4.
A follow-up WG C1.44 is starting with the objective to
Conclusions challenge the present results with the implementation
of alternative solutions for flexibility as more storage,
Obviously, the results of the feasibility study depend and demand-side facilities within the region. 
on the assumptions selected, and on the different
parameters used for the simulations. Therefore, several
sensitivity analysis were performed in order to assess
the robustness of the results.
BROCHURE N° 775

The sensitivity studies analyzed the sensitivity of the (en anglais seulement)
results with the possibility: to impose some corridors,
to change the value of capacity factors, to take into (in English only)
account the losses in interconnections, and to take into
account some storage facilities. Disponible sur / Available on:

Finally, these sensitivity analysis show good resilience

of the results on the whole. Some light change occurs www.e-cigre.org
on the total cost but without large impact, keeping
profitability for the interconnection solution. Prix non-Membres / Non-Member Price:

Thus this CIGRE feasibility study shows, within the

limits and boundary conditions adopted, the added 260 €
value of interconnecting the continents in comparison
with keeping them separated. Purchase (non-members)

The global electric network, compared to non- Free download (members)

interconnected grids, enables the use of wind and PV

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