彭博社：携手构建全球能源网

电力18讯：

 

 

　　当前，有批评者认为全球化已经落伍，自由贸易会带来不平等，国际合作妨碍本国发展，封闭经济体优于开放经济体。

　　这些言论具有误导性。我认为解决现实问题的关键不在于就业、劳动生产率或者是GDP，而在于更简单、更根本的能源、信息和交通系统的创新发展。

　　这三大系统支撑着所有的人造网络，这些系统的价值在单一国家背景下无法充分体现，并且这三大系统正在趋同融合的边缘，同在一个地球村，我们应当共同迎接和开创这一事业。

　　首先我们应该意识到：1）现有的系统不可持续；2）互联互通具有巨大优势；3）需要制定统一的方案并在全球推广。

　　近年来，信息和交通系统已在集成整合。这得益于电气化、光纤、数据分析、自动化和物联网等方面的进步，这些早已超越了工业时代的边界。而能源基础设施则落后很多，电力生产和传输仍然局限在20世纪形成的就地消纳的传统模式。地理限制和经验知识将产业绑架，阻碍了创新和生产力提升的步伐，而这种创新和提升在信息和交通领域却早已取得巨大的进步。

　　这种不平衡的发展是不可持续的。能源、信息、交通系统需要协调发展，就像我们身体的血液系统、神经系统和肌肉系统一样，必须要协调。目前的情况就像是，身体的神经元和肌肉纤维已经变得更加强大，但是血管系统正受到“不良饮食”和“老化”的困扰。

　　到2050年，世界人口预计将达到97亿。未来的能源需求将是天文数字，能源需求的规模和范围是我们今天所无法想象的，而且主要是清洁能源。目前能够支撑这些需求的基础设施还不存在。但是，随着高压输电、智能电网、清洁能源技术的发展和应用，我们已经找到了能源可持续供应的解决办法，那就是构建能源互联网+，更进一步促进清洁能源的高效开发利用，并逐步替代化石能源。

　　全球的能源、信息与交通可以进一步实现“三网融合”发展，电力网、光纤网和地面交通网在跨洲范围实现融合。这样的融合将使生产力和效率实现指数级增长，最大限度降低社会发展成本，并推动世界经济转型。这在中国已经有了很好的例证，截至2016年底，中国已建成9.3万个充电桩，安装了4.3亿只智能电表，太阳能、风力和水能发电装机分别达到0.8、1.5、3.3亿千瓦，均居世界第一。

　　当前的关键任务是加快构建全球能源互联网，以支持可再生能源在更大范围、更大规模地开发使用。特别是先进的特高压输电和智能电网技术的突破，使得将赤道的太阳能发电和北极的风电远距离输送到高负荷地区成为可能，与当地的各种电源相协调，实现电力的清洁可靠供应。构建全球能源互联网的条件已经具备，预计到2050年它将成为现实，实现人人享有可持续能源。

　　能源网、信息网和交通网的融合发展符合全人类的利益。从短期和长期来看，它都有助于提高生产力和效能，减少浪费和污染。

　　孤立的尝试将无法实现这些目标。各国政府、能源供应商、各行各业必须共同行动。正如未来是我们共同的命运，“三网融合”是我们共同的责任和使命。

　　信息来源：彭博社

 

文章英文版：

Let's Get to Work on a Global Energy Grid

By Liu Zhenya

Globalization has fallen out of fashion. Free trade breeds inequality, the critics say. International cooperation precludes national development. Closed economies are preferable to open ones.

These statements could not be more misguided. The main reason I know this has to do not with job creation or productive employment or even global gross domestic product. It has to do with things that are much simpler and more fundamental to us all: energy, information and transportation.

These three systems underpin all other man-made networks. None of them can be understood in the context of a single nation, and today all three are on the brink of convergence. But it will be up to us, as a global community, to usher in that new reality.

At the simplest level, this will require three things: 1) agreeing that current systems cannot last; 2) recognizing the benefits of interconnection; and 3) mapping a unified plan to roll it out across the world.

Information and transportation are already well on their way to being integrated. Powered by advancements in electrification and fiber optics, as well as data analytics, automation and the internet of things, these sectors have long since progressed beyond industrial-era boundaries. Energy infrastructure, meanwhile, lags far behind. Electricity generation and transmission remain trapped within localized 20th-century grids. Geography and precedent hold this sector hostage, preventing the kind of innovation and increased productivity that information and transportation provide.

Such unbalanced development is unsustainable. Energy, information and transportation need to work together, no less so than, in the human body, our cardiovascular, nervous and musculoskeletal systems must cooperate. It's as if the bonds between our global neurons and muscle fibers have become stronger than ever, while our heart suffers from poor diet and old age.

By 2050, world population is projected to reach 9.7 billion.  The energy demands of the next three decades will be astronomical. We will need to power -- mainly cleanly -- at a scale and for a range of uses we cannot yet fully imagine. The infrastructure needed to support such a future does not exist. But with the rapid development of high-voltage transmission, smart grids and clean energy, we have at least the means to achieve a sustainable energy supply. With global energy interconnection, we can further stimulate the development of highly efficient clean energy to replace fossil fuels.

Furthermore, global energy, information and transportation networks can be integrated. This will require aligning -- on a transcontinental scale -- power grids, fiber-optic networks and major ground-transportation throughways. Such a system will enable exponential gains in productivity and efficiency. It will lower the overall cost of social development and, at the same time, transform the world economy. China has already built 93,000 charging facilities, and has installed 430 million smart meters. With 80 gigawatts of solar, 150 gigawatts of wind and 330 gigawatts of hydropower, the country has the world's largest clean energy capacity. 

What's needed now is accelerated development of a global energy network designed to support a wider range of renewable energy. The most cutting-edge ultra-high-voltage transmission technology and smart grids make it possible to carry solar energy from equatorial countries and wind power from the Arctic region to faraway places where electricity demand is high, and to coordinate the various local sources to achieve a smooth supply of clean power. The build conditions for such a network already exist; by 2050, it could become a reality, allowing the world to be powered by sustainable energy.

It is in the interest of all people everywhere to help develop global infrastructure for energy, information and transportation. Immediately and in the long-term, it will improve human productivity and efficiency and also reduce waste and pollution.

But it won't happen in isolation. Throughout the world, governments, energy providers and industry at large must take action. Just as the future is our common destiny, global integration of energy, information and transportation is our common responsibility.