Route designs and cost estimation for Japan-Russia and Japan-South Korea interconnections

Abstract

This paper describes route designs and cost estimation for possible interconnections between Japan-Russia and between Japan-South Korea based on the Asia International Grid Connection Study Group 2nd report. The Group has conducted a desktop study to design several cable routes as possible options. To optimize the route, the group studied a wide range of open data, regarding sea depth, fishery zones, geographic condition, available transmission capacity in connecting points inside Japan and so on.The result of desktop study shows that it is possible to keep sea depth for planned routes less than 300 m and length for most of designed routes is less than 600 km. Compare to existing undersea cables in Europe, proposed routes are not challenging from technical and geological viewpoints.The study shows that investment cost range, including cost for grid enhancement inside Japan, is from around 200 bn JPY to 600 bn JPY, depending on the routes. Annualized cost range is from around 8 to 24 bn JPY (for 25-year operation), which is not so large compare to 1800 bn JPY- average annual investment in transmission infrastructure by 10 power utilities in the past 23 years.