Connecting the Japanese electricity grid into the Asian Super Grid may prove useful if increasing the use of renewable energy sources and to overall increase its energy efficiency. This approach, however, has raised questions about a possible impact on the energy security of Japan. Regularly raised argument against Japan joining the cross-border electricity trading project is that it would make Japan dependent on other countries and exposed to political extortion. This paper investigates a scenario, in which Japan imports electricity from Russia. The method to assess the interdependence between importer and exporter countries examines only worst-case scenarios and was adopted from a similar study conducted for the Desertec project. If Japan maintains the current capacity buffers, demand-response mechanism and follows appropriate risk-reducing strategies, it will not be susceptible to any political pressure or extortion by Russia using the ‘energy weapon’. This paper in its essence argues that the Asian Super Grid project would not pose substantial security risks for Japan.

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