2017-11-06
Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s ambitious plan for a north-east Asian energy “super grid” has been given a boost after winning the backing of the head of South Korea’s state-run energy group.
Cho Hwan-eik, Kepco chief executive, on Thursday hailed the project as going “beyond economics”, saying it had the potential to ease the region’s persistent tensions. “We have carried out a preliminary feasibility study on the project and concluded that it is feasible economically and technically,” he said.
The plan to connect the electricity networks of South Korea, China, Japan, Mongolia and Russia is ostensibly aimed at bolstering the region’s energy security. But it has also been championed in recent months by Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s new president, as a foundation for deeper regional economic and security integration.
A super grid would allow north-east Asian nations to share energy supplies, particularly in the event of a natural disaster, a Kepco spokesperson said.
Jung Heon, vice-president of the Korea Institute of Energy Policy, said the regional power grid plan was “an essential project for stable energy supply in the region. There are some technical problems but we can overcome those barriers if a political agreement is reached between the nations.”
Mr Son, chief executive of Japanese technology group SoftBank, first proposed the plan following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster — but it has not attracted the same level of attention as some of the company’s other eye-catching moves, from last year’s ￡24bn acquisition of UK chip designer Arm and launch of the $100bn Saudi-backed Vision Fund to its troubled plans to invest up to $10bn in Uber.
However, SoftBank has started adding operations that could feed into a regional grid.
Last month SoftBank launched its new 50 megawatt wind farm in Mongolia’s Gobi desert — “the first step for the SoftBank Group?.?.?.?under the Asia Super Grid project”, according to Mr Son.
That followed the April announcement of a partnership for the development and construction of two large solar projects in the Japanese regions of Fukushima and Nagano.
Mr Moon has sought to use the initiative to bring nations together in a region on edge over North Korea’s nuclear provocations.
During a speech in Vladivostok in September, the South Korean president called for Russia’s inclusion in the project “within a greater vision of forming a north-east Asian economic bloc and a multilateral security system”.
However, some analysts have questioned the project’s viability. They say a multilateral deal would take years, pointing to the precedent of much-discussed but ultimately unfulfilled plans to develop an overland gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea via North Korea, and raising concerns that South Korea has yet to develop cables that can carry the necessary 800 kilovolts of direct current thousands of kilometres along the seabed.
“It is not technically impossible and could boost energy security,” said Kang Seung-kyung, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. “[But] it will take a long time to reach a political agreement and actually establish the energy network.”
日本亿万富翁孙正义(Masayoshi Son)雄心勃勃的东北亚能源“超级电网”计划，在赢得了韩国国有能源集团掌门人的支持之后得到了提振。
韩国电力公社(Kepco)社长赵焕益(Cho Hwan-eik)周四赞扬该项目“超越经济范畴”，称该项目或许能够缓解该地区持续的紧张局势。“我们对该项目进行了初步的可行性研究，得出的结论是该项目在经济上和技术上都是可行的，”他说。
这个将韩国、中国、日本、蒙古和俄罗斯的电网连接起来的计划据称是为了加强该地区的能源安全。但近几个月，这个项目作为更深层地区经济和安全一体化的基础，还得到了韩国新总统文在寅(Moon Jae-in)的支持。
韩国电力公社的一名发言人说，有了超级电网，东北亚国家能够分享能源供应，尤其是在爆发自然灾害的情况下。
韩国能源政策研究所(Korea Institute of Energy Policy)副所长Jung Heon表示，地区电网计划是“地区能源稳定供应的关键项目。虽然存在一些技术难题，但如果各国能达成政治协议，我们能够克服这些障碍。”
日本科技集团软银(SoftBank)首席执行官孙正义在2011年的福岛(Fukushima)核灾难之后首次提出了这个计划——但与该公司其他的一些引人注目的举措相比，这个计划并没有吸引同样的关注。这些举措包括：去年软银斥资240亿英镑收购英国芯片设计公司Arm，设立得到沙特支持的1000亿美元的愿景基金(SoftBank Vision Fund)，以及计划向优步(Uber)投资100亿美元(但遭遇了重重麻烦)。
然而，软银已经开始新增可能促成地区电网的业务。
上月，软银在蒙古戈壁滩上建立的50兆瓦的新风力发电场投入使用——孙正义称，这是“亚洲超级电网项目下……软银踏出的第一步”。
此前，软银还在今年4月宣布在日本福岛和长野(Nagano)合作开发和建立两个大型太阳能项目。
文在寅寻求利用该计划把因朝鲜核挑衅而紧张不安的本地区的各国团结起来。
9月在符拉迪沃斯托克(Vladivostok)发表讲话时，文在寅呼吁俄罗斯在“形成东北亚经济区和多边安全体系的更大视野”下加入这个计划。
然而，一些分析师质疑该项目的可行性。他们表示，达成一项多边协议可能需要数年时间，他们指出了一个前车之鉴——开发一条经由朝鲜从俄罗斯到韩国的陆上天然气管道的计划，经过了很多讨论但最终未能实现。分析师们还提出，韩国还未能研发出能承载800千伏特直流电、在海底穿越数千公里的线缆。
“这在技术上并非不可能，还能够提高能源安全。”韩国投资证券公司(Korea Investment & Securities)分析师Kang Seung-kyung说：“(但)达成政治协议和实际上建立起能源网络需要很长时间。”
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