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It sounds like you need to do more research. It's not a matter of what power is cheapest, it's a matter of what serves the needs of the population without gene

It sounds like you need to do more research. It's not a matter of what power is cheapest, it's a matter of what serves the needs of the population without generating fuel for climate change. Renewables aren't enough, period, because of their variable nature, and "running HVDC between the grids" won't fix it. It's not that simple.

cagenut 7y ago
Says you. The professionals disagree: https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/hvdctransmission/pdf/transmission.pdf https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/hvdctransmi... Studies of existing systems and projects under development demonstrate that HVDC can be effective in mitigating these impacts [intermittancy] on non‐dispatchable generation.
- Accujack 7y ago
  They can aid in mitigation of present limitations, IE they can move some power from areas with renewable energy available to areas without it. Even that paper states they're only part of the strategy, however. There is a huge difference between mitigating the present uneven implementation of "non dispatchable" renewables and in providing sufficient capacity and stability to power literally everything in the world from renewables by shipping power from point A to point B using any technology at all. The problem is that whether you take renewables in individual installations or in aggregate over a region they're still variable sources of power. The storage capacity to turn renewables into 24/7 power sources at a scale large enough to supply all needs doesn't exist. Using small scale energy storage widely would require a completely different power grid structure that doesn't exist yet. Given the needs of our civilization and the prerequisites that we don't have time to build out a power grid centered around distributed energy generation and storage before irreversible climate damage happens, our options are limited. Renewables aren't enough on their own, simply because they aren't constant.
  - cagenut 7y ago
    ok boomer

cagenut 7y ago

Says you. The professionals disagree: https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/hvdctransmission/pdf/transmission.pdf https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/hvdctransmi... Studies of existing systems and projects under development demonstrate that HVDC can be effective in mitigating these impacts [intermittancy] on non‐dispatchable generation.

Accujack 7y ago
They can aid in mitigation of present limitations, IE they can move some power from areas with renewable energy available to areas without it. Even that paper states they're only part of the strategy, however. There is a huge difference between mitigating the present uneven implementation of "non dispatchable" renewables and in providing sufficient capacity and stability to power literally everything in the world from renewables by shipping power from point A to point B using any technology at all. The problem is that whether you take renewables in individual installations or in aggregate over a region they're still variable sources of power. The storage capacity to turn renewables into 24/7 power sources at a scale large enough to supply all needs doesn't exist. Using small scale energy storage widely would require a completely different power grid structure that doesn't exist yet. Given the needs of our civilization and the prerequisites that we don't have time to build out a power grid centered around distributed energy generation and storage before irreversible climate damage happens, our options are limited. Renewables aren't enough on their own, simply because they aren't constant.
- cagenut 7y ago
  ok boomer