Is the Asian Super Grid idea too crazy? Masayoshi Son: It is possible to make money!

Source：   Time：2022-01-18    View：

On September 9, Masayoshi Son, president of Japan's SoftBank Group, talked about the Asian Super Grid concept and said that he "saw the possibility of profitability."

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Since then, Masayoshi Son has been thinking about Japan's alternative energy measures, and established the Natural Energy Foundation as an individual and began to carry out activities.

The most likely alternative to atomic energy chosen by Masayoshi Son is renewable energy. It was released as the "Asian Super Grid Concept" in September 2011.

Masayoshi Son said: "Many people say that (the Asian Super Grid) is too big to be true, and it is a crazy idea that cannot be realized from a profit or political perspective."

While the Asian Super Grid was just a concept, the Natural Energy Consortium began to invest in renewable energy power generation business. Currently, through its subsidiary SoftBank Energy, it operates 33 photovoltaic and wind power stations in Japan, and has also developed renewable energy power stations in Mongolia, which is more suitable for wind power generation than Japan, and India, which is more suitable for photovoltaic power generation.

In Mongolia, it has obtained a 100-year right to use land that can be used to set up a total of 70GW wind farms, and has begun to develop small-scale wind farms.

In India, it is developing a million-watt photovoltaic power station with an output power of 350MW, and plans to develop a photovoltaic power station with a total output power of 20GW. Masayoshi Son also stated that "it is possible to develop the world's largest photovoltaic power generation project in India."

In January 2016, Masayoshi Son met Liu Zhenya, the former chairman of China State Grid Corporation. It is said that they found that they had the same ideas and immediately became like-minded.

Coincidentally, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Russia's power transmission company ROSSETI were also interested in this. The four companies signed a memorandum in March 2016 with the purpose of promoting the investigation and formulation of international power grid connection.

According to the ideas of the four companies, two routes called Golden Ring by Masayoshi Son were discussed: one is from Mongolia through China and South Korea to Japan, and the other is from Mongolia through Russia to Japan.

Asia's population accounts for two-thirds of the world's population. In Asia, 76% of the current power generation and 77% of the electricity consumption are produced and consumed in the four countries where the companies that signed the memorandum are located. Son said, "If GoldenRing can connect two power grids in four countries, there will be hope for the global energy problem."

The Asian Super Grid first investigated the technical feasibility and business feasibility. It has been confirmed that it is technically feasible. From the results of the current estimates, the business feasibility "sees the possibility of profitability."

The route on the Russian side is estimated based on the transmission of Russian hydroelectric power to Japan through the power grid and submarine cables in Russia.

Son said, "In the past, although renewable energy had the advantages of cleanliness (safety) and safety, it lacked stability and high cost. By integrating with renewable energy power sources in other countries, it is expected to change from 'unstable and high cost' to 'stable and low cost'."