Under the sea, a new power map is taking shape. Electricity wants to travel where the internet already does.
There is a hidden world that sustains our present: the submarine cables through which almost everything travels. Now, a new challenge emerges: to carry not only information, but also electricity. The future depends, in part, on turning that dream into reality.
From Viking Link to projects of thousands of kilometers
But it will not be the longest for long: there are already plans for cables of over 4,000 km that will link Canada to Europe or Morocco to the United Kingdom. The most ambitious case is , which aims to export Australian solar energy to Singapore.
They pursue a clear goal: balancing the gap between production and consumption. When it is night in Canada, it is dawn in Europe; when the sun sets in Australia, it may be lighting up Asia.
Internet as a precedent
The idea does not come out of nowhere. have been proving for decades that oceanic distances are not an obstacle. Networks like 2Africa, spanning 45,000 km, or the Southern Cross, spanning 30,500 km, already connect entire continents. Spain also participates in this invisible infrastructure with cables like Marea and Grace Hopper.
If we have been able to move information on a global scale, why not also electricity?
A new energy and political map
Beyond the technical aspects, draw a different geopolitics. Norway has seen protests over the export of its electricity; the UK rejected projects for considering them too risky; and the specter of sabotage looms after the war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the vision is powerful: Just as oil and gas pipelines once defined oil politics, submarine energy cables can shape the course of the 21st century.
