Aline to share solar power between the deserts of northwest India and Oman, more than 600 miles west, could be the first step in an electricity network that might one day span the globe.
The second leg would go a couple thousand miles east, from India through Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam. A few more links between already existing energy grids in the Middle East, Europe and Africa could produce a network that stretches across 10 time zones, powering one part of the world with juice from another, says Jagjeet Sareen, assistant director general at the International Solar Alliance near Delhi, which is spearheading the project. The goal is to get the entire network linked up by 2050.