Integrated resource usage is currently not possible without interconnections and high voltage transmission.
Our research to date finds that, using today's technology, the interconnection of large scale renewable resource energy is an economic and environmentally sustainable solution.
In considering the decision making processes of the global electricity industry, there exists three areas of activity that will accelerate the attainment of optimal energy solutions:
First, the industry must be convinced that interconnection of renewable energy sources via high voltage transmission networks is both a financially viable and highly desirable global energy option;
Second, the general public and their representative organizations need to be aware of sustainable global energy options; and
Third, our policy makers need to be aware of global sustainable energy options when determining their regional policy direction and legislation.
GENI has identified a hurdle for the industry's wider use of interconnection of large scale renewable energy resources: the lack of a suitable, validated computer simulation model to demonstrate the cost/benefit analysis of such a scenario, which includes a comparison with other energy scenarios, for example, those of the World Energy Council.
Therefore:
To accelerate the decision making and approval process, we have initiated a Computer Simulation Project, enlisting the active support of the electricity industry and the Society for Computer Simulation's "Mission Earth" project.
To leverage our communication with the general public, we have initiated, in collaboration with Earth Vision Productions, a Documentary Film Project suitable for international broadcast media.
To leverage the education of the industry and our policy makers, we work with other organizations promoting global sustainable development, are actively involved in international meetings, and have joined with the United Nations Environmental Program to co-sponsor an International Conference on Electrical Interconnections.
"The extensive international cooperation necessary would mean alternative expenditures to armaments, and at the same time, help overcome social-economic problems which exist today in developing countries."
Yevgeny Velikhov, Vice-President, Russian Academy of Sciences
"Birthrates decrease at exactly the same rate that the per capita consumption of inanimate electrical energy increases. The world's population will stop increasing when and if the integrated world electrical grid is realized. The grid is the World Game's highest priority objective."
Dr. R Buckminster Fuller, "Critical Path"
"A global energy network makes enormous sense if we are to meet global energy needs with a minimal impact on the world's environment." "Such advances (in long distance transmission) may even make possible the visionary suggestion of Buckminster Fuller two decades ago that the Eastern and Western hemispheres be linked by underwater cable to assist each other in managing peak energy demand, since the high daytime use in one hemisphere occurs at precisely the low nighttime consumption by the other."
Al Gore, letter from US Senator (Tennessee), and "Earth in the Balance"
"My conclusion is that to build a new world -- to build peace -- we must literally build it. . . Two billion people live without electricity today. Show me any area in the world where there is a lack of energy, and I'll show you basic poverty. There is a direct tie-in between energy and poverty, energy and war, energy and peace. . . Electrical interconnections between regions -- and even continents -- can and must be tackled now. This can be a vast and visionary undertaking -- worthy of our generation."
Walter Hickel, Governor of Alaska, Chairman of Northern Forum
"The construction of long distance transmission lines for the transport of the bulk hydroelectric energy from its distant sources is the aim of environmentalists as well as a hope for the peoples of developing countries. . . The revenues from the export of renewable hydro-energy would pay back the investments in the power projects and also provide financing for sustained economic and social development."
Eng. M Maher Abaza, Minister of Electricity and Energy, Egypt
"Inventor R. Buckminster Fuller first proposed the idea of connecting the world's regional electrical grids into a single global energy network in 1969. Since then, political problems, including domestic and international conflicts, have posed a formidable barrier. However, the development of long-range transmission systems has bolstered the technological feasibility of such plans. In recent years a number of government agencies, utilities, and electrical equipment manufacturers around the world have set aside their geopolitical differences and joined forces to build transmission systems that can economically send thousands of megawatts across thousands of kilometers."
Michael Valenti, Associate Editor, "Mechanical Engineering"
"We estimate that by 2050, electricity may account for 60% to 70% of the energy consumed. . . because of these trends there will be a growing trade in power, not just between neighboring countries, but across neighbor countries to a third country. All this demands strong interconnections. Extra-high voltage (EHV) transmission will become more important for wheeling. Research into EHV in the future is going to be of paramount importance."
Hisham Khatib, Chair, Committee on Energy Issues in Developing Countries, Vice President, World Energy Council
"The exploitation of remote energy sources at low cost (e.g. hydro or mine-mouth coal) is now feasible and economical for distances never before entertained. For example, transmission systems can be set-up over a distance of as much as 7000 kilometers in d.c. (direct current) and 3000-4000 kilometers in a.c. (alternating current) such that, by offering an acceptable reliability level for the receiving system concerned, present costs small enough as to make advantageous the exploitation of these sources, when compared to more expense generation located in the vicinity of load centers."
Luigi Paris, Giancarlo Manzoni, Nelson DeFranco, et al. CIGRE (International Conference on Large High Voltage Electric Systems) System Planning Committee
"With peace at hand, some ambitious development projects no longer look so crazy. Beyond Israel and the occupied territories, some other neighbors could benefit too. A few of the Palestinians' fondest dreams: Power Grids: Interlocking electricity grids could save Israelis and Arabs millions of dollars."
Newsweek Magazine, Special Report on Middle East Peace
"The levels of renewable energy development indicated by this scenario (Renewables Intensive Global Energy Scenario) represent a tiny fraction of the potential for renewable energy. Higher levels might be pursued if society should seek greater reductions in CO2 emissions. . . and that most electricity produced from renewable sources would be fed into large electrical grids and marketed by electric utilities."
Johansson, Kelly, Reddy, Williams "Renewable Energy: Sources for Fuels and Electricity"
"We must see the problem as a whole. We must understand and explain to all other men on our planet that the interconnection between power systems of different countries is one of the important tasks for all humanity."
Victor Yershevich, Director of Science, Energoset Project