Your energy superhero is my superhero too!

In this post I will tell you how to reduce your power bills, improve the care of the environment and of course create everlasting global peace. It sounds too good to be true, but please read on.

You may not know this, your energy superhero is one quarter of the globe away from you, as discussed below in the "Who" section. Ethically, you need to support that region of the globe, because if you don't you will be forced to use long term storage of energy (such as batteries) which will pose its own future environmental dilemma (see the section Ethics below). Your power bills will become cheaper for many reasons including your cost saving by not having to finance mega batteries.

Tactically you should start setting up your energy superhero now, because it is likely that in the future you will need to call on them (see the section Tactics below). The good news is that in the long run you can slowly pay down the debt to your superhero by consuming their excess power (see the section Financing below). It is possible that by embracing your superhero now, the world will also become more peaceful (see the section Geopolitics below).

Who is your energy superhero ?

If you aren't from a rich country then you are most likely a rich country's superhero.

You can work out who your energy superhero is. It goes like this, at your 6 pm, who is at noon ? For the east coast of Australia our superhero is east Africa and some of the middle east. Your energy superhero is a quarter of the globe away from you to the west.

Why are they energy superheros for me ? I am glad you asked, it all has to do with the power consumption and energy price duck curve. Typically your region can't produce enough power at 6 pm, which is when you need it most. Whilst at noon (12 pm) in your energy superhero's region they are or can be producing too much power (this forces power prices to become negative - that is right, you get paid to consume).

Hang on, but why do I need an energy superhero ? Well, there are a few reasons for that.

Ethics

My Australia is a rich country. We don't have undersea energy cables to our west, no one is piping sinshine into our night (night pipe). Most likely your country has no night pipe right now either. For this reason, investors see money to be made in mega batteries, and there are lots of them right now and lots more will be installed.

The manufacture of mega batteries requires extensive mining of relevant mineral resources and this causes environmental issues. Ethically speaking we have to offset that in some way. A simple indirect offset is a carbon offset. A very good carbon offset is a massive solar installation. Ethically speaking it is probably a good idea for a rich country to support a poor country and we can incentivise and support the installation of solar panels and if necessary poles and wires in these poor countries.

But surely there are better ways to carbon offset then philanthropy ? Well actually our ethics are weighted by tactics.

Tactics

Energy security is a big deal. It keeps the lights on, the air conditioners on, the food cooking, etc. It is important for your region to ensure you can get ample energy as you need it.

If you empower your energy superhero to get power, then you can certainly help them to get too much power. This is the beauty of renewable energy. Consider solar power. There is ample solar power everywhere all the time to power the entire globe always (check the "Environmental prophets" discussion here). It is easily possible for a rich country to give a poor country so much solar power that they can't use it all.

Let us imagine a future when your superhero has too much power. Drop a line to your superhero and BAM! our renewable energy scarcity problem is now solved. You now have a night pipe which sends you sunlight at nighttime in the form of electricity - all because your superhero and you have undersea HVDC energy cables (for more info on HVDC, check the "A prophet's devil is in the detail" section here).

Hang on, but what are we supporting our energy superhero with ? Money of course !

Financing your energy superhero

The end game is to get funds flowing from you to your energy superhero and at the same time reduce your energy bill. If your energy superhero is a poor country, then this is another ethical bonus. I guess you're wondering how this works ?

Imagine Australia and Madagascar setup a night pipe (HVDC link). Assume this link also extends up the east coast of Africa into the Middle East. Now at noon in Madagascar's time zone, we have done such a good job of setting up solar panels in that entire time zone that there simply is too much power available. Too much power supply drives the energy price down, it can even go sub zero dollars. Lets face it, most of the population can't afford the EVs and appliances which you (Australians) can, so their energy needs are pretty low. Even if the energy price is not negative, the superhero energy producers will have a feed in tariff (FIT). These residents will make money by exporting their solar power to the night pipe and into your devices (whatever your devices are).

Geopolitics

As a conjecture, it is possible that by linking countries together which previously have had no political interest in forging alliances will strengthen support around the world. Six hours is a quarter of the globe and it is possible that part of the globe is not your country's region of political interest.

Making this geopolitical ally link even stronger is that they have a superhero they are interested in a quarter of the globe away. In turn their superhero has another superhero three quarters of the globe away from you. Would you believe it, you are actually your superhero's superhero's superhero's superhero ! Nice to meet you.

Conclusion

You may never have expected it, but your energy superhero is a quarter of the globe away from you - always.  The world spins that way.

So now you see that you can directly finance your energy superhero (on the other side of the world) and improve their lives (see the Financing section above). Ethically, this is a good situation, apart from the money, your energy superhero gets from you, you are also offsetting the environmental cost of producing mega batteries (see the section above Ethics). The land pollution during manufacture and disposal of batteries every 10 years - ouch that is a large amount of pollution.

Tactically it is a good move to start working now to setup your energy superhero, so that in the future you can join forces to tackle environmental issues around energy production and consumption (see the discussion above in the Tactics section).

Finally we can make the world a more peaceful place by forging allegiance between countries which previously had no interest in each other. After all, one's energy superhero has an energy superhero and thus one's energy superhero is another's energy superhero.