Why China’s Plan for a World-Spanning Super-Grid Is Unlikely to Happen

Ultra high-voltage lines strung in Qingjian, China. Photo: Zhao Chen/Getty

In vision and scale, the idea is mind-boggling: In response to an expected doubling of global demand for electricity over the next generation, China is proposing a super-grid — a grand, world-spanning, cross-border, centrally managed network of power generation. By 2070, it would deliver green-generated electricity to 80 countries, from the United States to Southeast…