The extrication from fossil fuels has always been the energy target of various countries, and the Russia-Ukraine war has once again accelerated Europe’s progress in renewable energy development, which is why utilizing submarine cables that would replenish one’s insufficiency from other countries’ excessive power could become a critical step in providing stable and clean energy for Europe.
Despite having withdrawn from the EU, and gradually gaining economic independence, the issue of power is no joke, which is why the UK has been frequently establishing power-sharing policies with European countries over the past several years. The UK recently announced that a submarine cable measuring at more than 724km will be established between the country and Germany at an expected cost of US$1.95 billion, and 1.4GW of power transmission would provide enough electricity for 1.5 million households once the cable is constructed.
The UK had completed constructing a submarine cable that is connected with Norway last year, which allows the former to utilize the latter’s abundant hydroelectricity from the latter’s rugged mountains, while the latter can also utilize the former’s enormous wind power capacity. In addition, the transmission of power through submarine cables would also mitigate the bottleneck that is the frequent power outage of wind turbines caused by excessive production of renewable energy.
Both the UK and Norway are major countries of petroleum and natural gas, though the two are also aggressive developing renewable energy at the same time. Norway sources 98% of its power from output of renewable energy primarily from hydroelectricity, while the UK aims to source 100% of its power from renewable energy by 2035.
The increasing integration of Europe’s power market is an essential step in decarbonization, and the power sharing is not only needed in Europe, but also plans to transcend to Africa. Greece and Egypt announced last year that the two countries are currently discussing a 2GW submarine cable that spans across the Mediterranean Sea, which will become the first submarine cable that connects Europe with Africa. The plan aims to transmit the sizable green energy capacity from North Africa to Europe though the submarine cable.
Another Eurasian interconnection project that comprises a 1,500km long submarine cable connecting Cyprus, Israel, and Greece has been approved by the EU with an allocation of EU€100 million, and will assist Cyprus in stabilizing energy provision. Furthermore, pertaining to submarine cables between Europe and Africa, Italy and Tunisia are preparing to construct a 600MW cable at the Strait of Sicily, while Algeria is also considering the possibility of establishing cables with Italy and Spain.
Spain is planning to install a submarine cable (total capacity of 1.4GW) that goes to Morocco from the existing foundation of two cables, while the UK is also thinking to construct the longest submarine cable in the world that connects Morocco. Morocco, at the same time, is developing similar bilateral projects with Portugal.
The reason behind European countries’ construction of submarine cables goes to the rapid growth in renewable energy such as wind and solar power, where the supply of power through such particular method would become unstable according to changes in wind and sunlight, therefore the offsetting of one’s weakness by replenishing areas of power scarcity with another region’s excessive power is becoming increasingly crucial, since it would fortify and diversity a country’s power system. The reduction of dependency on fossil fuels would only be possible if power supply from renewable energy is stabilized.
(Cover photo source: Flickr/CGP Grey CC BY 2.0)