Asian international grid connection and potentiality of DC superconducting power transmission

In 2011, a large scale earthquake and tsunami hit the northeastern coast of Japan, and nuclear plants were damaged to a large extent. Before the Tsunami, 54 nuclear plants were operated, however presently, only three nuclear plants are in operation. Therefore, Japan is suffering from high price of electricity and low supply reliability. In generation mix, nuclear plants generate only one percent and 87 percent of electricity is generated by fossil energy. This is not preferable for Japan from the viewpoints of energy security and stable electricity supply. Therefore, it is mandatory to increase sustainable energy and to decrease consumption of fossil fuel. International grid connection and the Global Energy Interconnection will be one of countermeasures against these problems existing in Japan. In this paper, international grid connection initiatives proposed in Asia are described and features and issues of electric power grids in Japan are discussed to implement the international grid connection. As the key technology for implementing the international grid connection, the present status of DC superconducting power transmission lines and power converters for long-distance power transmission lines are presented. In conclusion, conditions and legal frameworks for realizing the international grid connection are described.