One universal truth about commodities is that they tend to be exchangeable for other commodities: Cheap energy begets inexpensive fresh water (whether thru desalination or redistribution); which in turn begets aerable land thru irrigation.
When you make a basic commodity like energy cheaper by two orders of magnitude interesting things happen. Suddenly commodity exchanges like energy for land or energy for available mineral ores, which were previously not feasible, become downright attractive. This is the principal reason that the tentacles of this project are so far reaching.
It also makes war for any resource less likely. People always find reasons to fight wars. But the underlying reason is quite often resources, even if race or religion is given as the pretext.