"Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come,"
Victor Hugo. I first heard this quote while working on the global
hunger issue in the 80's. It speaks to the essence of achieving a critical
mass " that threshold where a new concept becomes unstoppable.
This month, both Reuters
and the St.
Petersburg Times are reporting that the European Union and Russia
are coordinating plans to link their power grids in 2007. I recall
when we began this work in 1987, the experts said that the concept was
technically feasible " but would not happen because of the east-west (communist-capitalist)
political divide. Then the Berlin Wall falls in November 1989.
GENI has been pushing this strategy
to engineers at the World Energy Council and IEEE Power Engineering Society
for over a decade. Years ago, two Siemens (the German multinational) engineers
were presenting their plan for a high voltage interconnection between
Moscow and Berlin. Only later did they inform us that GENI's research
provided the basis for their interconnection proposal.
Today, the best engineers from Russia
and the EU are working towards a high-voltage system that stretches from
Spain to Siberia. The benefits
will include lower energy costs, increased reliability and stability,
and reduced emissions due to load leveling.
Last
month we spoke about the plans to link Iran, Iraq and Syria. Now,
we see plans for the first major inter-continental connection. We expect
to see similar plans between the other neighboring continents in the coming
years. Your financial support makes our work possible, and I acknowledge
your commitment over the many years to get these results the
time has come.
Please vote
with your dollars by investing in the sustainability of our planet.