Cross-border electricity interconnections are on the rise, especially in Europe, but increased international electricity trade can introduce the threat of electricity coercion. Russia’s repeated attacks on the electricity system of Ukraine have raised the level of concern about this new geopolitical energy challenge. The stakes will be high as the world moves to a more electrified world.
Hosting electricity trading hubs and serving as technical leadership for electric infrastructure management and trade can bring geopolitical benefits, as recently recognized by China with its establishment of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDO). Conversely, countries that could threaten such hubs could also derive geopolitical benefits. The United States must consider how the increased role of energy trade “by wire” changes its ability to defend global energy security, both via its energy exports and through its leadership role in key regional alliance systems.
The CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program is pleased to host this online-only event with Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at NYU, Chiara Lo Prete, Associate Professor of Energy Economics at Penn State, and Cy McGeady, Fellow with Energy Security and Climate Change Program at CSIS. The panelists will discuss the emerging geopolitics of electricity trade.
This conversation is made possible by general funding to CSIS and the CSIS Energy Security & Climate Change Program.