Security assessment of transnational power interconnection between China and neighboring countries

Abstract

China and its neighboring countries are energy-dependent regions with strong resource complementarity and significant benefits of cross-border grid interconnection. However, the power interconnection of the whole Greater China region is still far from being realized. In addition to internal factors, external geopolitical issues, grid interconnection technical issues, and geographical obstacles also pose certain security challenges to the creation of regional power grids. To quantify the security of power grid interconnection between China and neighboring countries, this study proposes a security assessment framework for the power interconnection between China and neighboring countries from the five dimensions of politics, economy, law, technology, and geographic environment. We collected the observable panel data of China's neighboring countries from 2011 to 2018 and used the entropy method to objectively evaluate the security of power interconnection between China and 22 countries in the four regions of Northeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The study proposes the feasible paths for power interconnection between China and surrounding countries based on the investigation on the interconnection advantages and security shortcomings of each region and country by combining the endowment of renewable energy resources in each region.