[Graeme]

Cephalotus, If you weren't already aware, there are plans for an Australian-Asian Desertec too. If you are interested, more details can be found in the link below. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) have any comments?

A Pan-Asian Energy Infrastructure

In coming years, Asia (ie China, Japan, South Korea, the ASEAN states, East Timor, Papua-New Guinea and Australia) needs tens of trillions of dollars of infrastructure investment.

This includes energy, transport and telecommunications. One-third of humanity lives in Asia. The region accounts for one-third of global GDP. It emits one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Between now and 2050, Asia's share of global population, GDP and energy use will rise dramatically. The decisions Asia makes in coming decades will largely determine the fate of humanity in the second half of the 21st Century.

A low-emission energy infrastructure in Asia is critical to avoiding destructive global climate change.

The good news story in all this is that the cornerstones of a Pan-Asian Energy Infrastructure are being laid.

They have names like the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline, the Trans-ASEAN Electricity Grid, China Fiber Optic City, Palapa Ring, and the National Broadband Network.

The challenge now lies in interconnecting them to make a whole larger than the sum of the parts.

For more details:

grenatec

[cephalotus]

Cephalotus, If you weren't already aware, there are plans for an Australian-Asian Desertec too. If you are interested, more details can be found in the link below. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) have any comments?

I know that there is an Asian and also an American version of Desertec, but I do not know any details about them.

There are two thing that are different. The Desertec foundation which promotes the idea and the Desertec industry initiative which has the money. Afaik(!) the Dii GmbH is mostly active in the EUMENA project.

There should be some power plants in North Africa in the coming years and also 1 or 2 grid connections (most likely between Marocco and Spain). I do not know about any plans for the Asian or American project, but those are other parts of the world...

I had spoken to high members of the Desertec foundation which had shown their EUMENA, Asian and American plans, but this has been 1 1/2 years ago, so I do not have more details about the current situation compared to what's available online.