SuperSmart Grid

The SuperSmart Grid (SSG) is a proposed electric power transmission network interconnecting producers and consumers of electricity across Europe and northern Africa that would use high voltage direct current cables in its first-generation implementation. The proposal was initiated by the European Climate Forum and at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research by Antonella Battaglini and colleagues.

Large-scale very long distance power generation and transmission, the "Super grid" and the small-scale decentralised power generation, the Smart Grid are two approaches that are often perceived as being mutually exclusive alternatives. The SSG aims at reconciling the two approaches and considers them complementary and necessary to realise a transition towards a fully decarbonised electricity system. The SuperSmart Grid combines the large-scale transmission of electricity over long distances using HVDC transmission lines (sometimes referred as one kind of "super grid") with the decentralized approach based on connected clusters of distributed generation installations (referred to as a Smart Grid acting as virtual power plants).

The word SuperSmart Grid was invented by Antonella Battaglini and used the first time in the position paper for the energy conference in Lund in 2007. In the context of the SuperSmart Grid, advocates use the term "super grid" to refer to a network super imposed on top of local grid networks and should not be confused with the proper noun "SuperGrid" which refers to an undeveloped technology for combining hydrogen and electricity distribution.

The SuperSmart Grid is seen as a possibility to integrate the European electricity market and connect it to neighboring regions, such as North Africa, and their vast renewable energy resources, e.g. DESERTEC project. In this case, the SuperSmart Grid would operate 'on top' of the current HVAC grid—only handling long-distance transmission—and existing AC grids would still distribute electricity over shorter domestic distances.

Dr Gregor Czisch of Kassel University, has constructed and optimized a model indicating that an entirely renewable electric supply system is possible at today's electric prices.

An initial project proposed by Scottish wind farm developer Airtricity and Swiss engineering firm ABB would provide a chain of undersea cable connections extending from the Baltic Sea southward to Spain and servicing areas between the endpoints. Proponents of the project claim that this western corridor could be in service as early as 2015. The first segments would provide two 5000 megawatt links connecting a new 10,000 megawatt group of wind parks in the North Sea with consumers in the UK and continental Europe.

External links

• SuperSmart Grid Website