Environmental benefits of electricity grid interconnections in Northeast Asia

From an environmental perspective, electricity grid interconnections in Northeast Asia make sense. Cities in Northeast China, Mongolia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the Republic of Korea (ROK) suffer from poor air quality due to the extensive use of coal-fired power generation. Rural communities suffer from a deficit of electricity, forcing reliance on coal and biofuels for cooking and heating in the home, which causes health-damaging indoor air pollution. Regional air pollution from acid rain and ozone is widespread. In addition, Japan is finding it hard to meet its commitment under the Kyoto Protocol. Yet, just across their borders in far eastern Russia are extensive, clean energy resources: hydroelectricity and natural gas, and (potentially) nuclear power and tidal power. It would be environmentally beneficial to generate electricity cleanly in far eastern Russia and transmit the electricity across the borders into China, Mongolia, the DPRK, the ROK, and Japan, thereby displacing coal-fired electricity generation. We estimate that currently planned projects could alleviate the problems of two to five Chinese cities, with the potential for much larger benefits in the future.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.