4 - Global Renewable Energy Grid Project—Integrating Renewables Via High-Voltage Direct Current and Centralized Storage

Abstract

Scientific consensus confirms the feasibility of a world powered by wind, water, and solar energies, and the necessity for transition to a renewable energy infrastructure for human safety and welfare. In a nonfossil fuel world, there exists a pressing need to share renewable resources across international borders. Regional electric grids must be combined into a vast global network. Ultimately we must create a worldwide system that applies careful monitoring of supply and demand through smart grids for dispatch of electrical power over a global renewable energy grid (GREG). A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system needs to be built to serve as the principal electrical power transport medium. Centralized “send and receive” storage facilities, employing pumped hydro and bidirectional fuel cell and battery technologies, can be strategically placed within a GREG as needed. After considering energy economics along with sociopolitical obstacles and hierarchies, we offer technological suggestions as to how a global grid might be implemented. HVDC transmission is recommended as the clear choice for the most efficient and reliable long-distance delivery of electrical power 24/7/52. In addition, centralized storage megaplants are proposed for balancing supply and demand across a network of mostly intermittent sources.