6 ms·

I suspect the transmission losses would be too great for it to make too much sense.[1] But even if that weren't a problem, well, politics. [1] https://en.wikip

by peller 10y ago

I suspect the transmission losses would be too great for it to make too much sense.[1] But even if that weren't a problem, well, politics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#Losses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_power_transmission#Lo...

treehau5 10y ago
Not just politics, security as well. One bad actor could wipe out the power grid for most of the world's superpowers.
- binalpatel 10y ago
  How would that hypothetical work out? I know that the grids - as they stand right now - must balance generation and consumption. Would a large outage (or large spike) in any given part of the interconnected grids be able to take out all of it?
  - msl 10y ago
    The Wikipedia article on Cascading failure [0] lists a few examples of this kind of a large scale grid failure. You start by taking one (or some) power plants down, thus overloading others trying to reblance the system, and possibly failing too. Such a chain reaction can, over multiple generations, take a great many power plants down. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure
perfunctory 10y ago
from the article: Nine regional interconnected grids are already functioning within China, so the technical feasibility of transmitting electricity across long distances at high voltages has already been proven.
- peller 10y ago
  Eh yea, but there's an economic feasibility limit too. From the Wiki article I linked: "As of 1980, the longest cost-effective distance for direct-current transmission was determined to be 7,000 km (4,300 mi). For alternating current it was 4,000 km (2,500 mi), though all transmission lines in use today are substantially shorter than this." [It's unclear when "today" means, or at what voltage these lines were running. But the 1000KV range this renewable grid is running is pretty typical, and, is in the ballpark of these quoted distances.] For reference, the circumference of earth is about 40,000km (as parent was pondering). The thing is, transformers and wire haven't exactly changed much since 1980. So until we can figure out room-temperature super conductivity, or a more efficient way of massively scaling up/down voltages than transformers, I'm inclined to believe the situation hasn't changed much since then. Then again, I'd love to be proved wrong.

by peller 10y ago

treehau5 10y ago

Not just politics, security as well. One bad actor could wipe out the power grid for most of the world's superpowers.

binalpatel 10y ago
How would that hypothetical work out? I know that the grids - as they stand right now - must balance generation and consumption. Would a large outage (or large spike) in any given part of the interconnected grids be able to take out all of it?
- msl 10y ago
  The Wikipedia article on Cascading failure [0] lists a few examples of this kind of a large scale grid failure. You start by taking one (or some) power plants down, thus overloading others trying to reblance the system, and possibly failing too. Such a chain reaction can, over multiple generations, take a great many power plants down. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascading_failure

perfunctory 10y ago

from the article: Nine regional interconnected grids are already functioning within China, so the technical feasibility of transmitting electricity across long distances at high voltages has already been proven.

peller 10y ago
Eh yea, but there's an economic feasibility limit too. From the Wiki article I linked: "As of 1980, the longest cost-effective distance for direct-current transmission was determined to be 7,000 km (4,300 mi). For alternating current it was 4,000 km (2,500 mi), though all transmission lines in use today are substantially shorter than this." [It's unclear when "today" means, or at what voltage these lines were running. But the 1000KV range this renewable grid is running is pretty typical, and, is in the ballpark of these quoted distances.] For reference, the circumference of earth is about 40,000km (as parent was pondering). The thing is, transformers and wire haven't exactly changed much since 1980. So until we can figure out room-temperature super conductivity, or a more efficient way of massively scaling up/down voltages than transformers, I'm inclined to believe the situation hasn't changed much since then. Then again, I'd love to be proved wrong.