The Gobitec concept represents the idea of producing clean energy from renewable energy sources in the Gobi Desert and delivering the produced energy to high-demand regions. It is planned to transmit this energy via the planned Asian Supergrid (ASG), which would connect Russia, Mongolia, China, South Korea and Japan.
The overall potential of solar and wind energy in the Gobi Desert is about 2,600 TWh. It is proposed to implement a group of projects with planned installed capacity of roughly 100 GW. The overall cost for this, including generation plants and transmission lines, is estimated to be around USD 293 bln, with yearly maintenance and system costs of USD 7.3 bln.
The Gobitec and the Asian Supergrid initiatives will deliver a number of economic, social and environmental benefits to the countries in the Northeast Asian region. The benefits will include, among others, improved energy security, job creation, economic growth and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
The study concludes that a legal framework, the Energy Charter Treaty, is necessary for the Gobitec and ASG initiatives, ensuring a positive investment climate, reliable transit regime and protection of property rights. Furthermore, electricity exchange and transmission regulations are to be developed and deployed.
Five partner organisations have jointly prepared this study. The organisations include the Energy Charter Secretariat, the Energy Economics Institute of the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Energy of Mongolia, the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, and the Energy Systems Institute of the Russian Federation. The preparation of the study was assisted by Fraunhofer-Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI of Germany.