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All these kind of comparisons are apples to oranges. If you ignore every advantage of one technology then the other will look good by comparison. The best com

by 7952 7y ago

All these kind of comparisons are apples to oranges. If you ignore every advantage of one technology then the other will look good by comparison. The best comparison is actual industry performance in deploying new installed capacity. Canada has some ridiculous geographic challenges to overcome. Transmission losses are far lower on grids in more densely populated areas. And HVDC/Ultra high voltage AC give more options. And anyway, what's wrong with wasting 25%? There are obviously some good reasons to do that. Also, a relatively short interconnector can be useful. It can be used to satisfy demand in a neighbouring area. In turn that area can generate less or can export more to its neighbours. The power has a knock on effect across a much larger area. But the great thing is that they are not monolithic. It benefits everyone, and can be a modular element of a larger system. This even works out well for energy storage. A pumped hydro site in a mountainous area can benefit people across the other side of a country.

koheripbal 7y ago
Tightly packed grids don't help because the generation vs consumption disparity is across hundreds or thousands of miles. HVDC and Ultra HVAC sounds nice on paper, but the reasons the industry doesn't use them today are numerous. Again, the grid needs to provide 100% capacity 99.95% of the time. Renewables simply cannot handle that without massive storage that is still only theoretical - and often infeasible. Pumped hydro is a great example of a theoretical storage concept that would only work in a small number of places, and yet still would be a major undertaking with large losses in efficiency. These are just pie-in-the-sky ideas, or flat out unrealistic.
- 7952 7y ago
  You complain about minsinformation and then say stuff like that. HVDC is very widely deployed for interconnectors and grid connections. And there are >20 UHV lines in China, many over 1,000 km long. This is not pie-in-the-sky but physics. By using appropriate technology you reduce tranmsision losses and/or cost. Also consumption and demand are already very spread out in a traditional grid. A generator can go offline and the power is sourced from another location. In fact this is essential for nuclear stations as large generators can fail rapily. I agree that pumped hydro has limited value, and nothing is a panacea on its own. But most of the nuclear states actually have significant deployed pumped hydro capacity. It is a complementary technology. When nuclear power stations fail they can leave a big hole in generating capacity. Pumped hydro can deliver >1GW in a short amount of time and fill that hole. Otherwise you need to maintain more spinning reserve.

by 7952 7y ago

koheripbal 7y ago

Tightly packed grids don't help because the generation vs consumption disparity is across hundreds or thousands of miles. HVDC and Ultra HVAC sounds nice on paper, but the reasons the industry doesn't use them today are numerous. Again, the grid needs to provide 100% capacity 99.95% of the time. Renewables simply cannot handle that without massive storage that is still only theoretical - and often infeasible. Pumped hydro is a great example of a theoretical storage concept that would only work in a small number of places, and yet still would be a major undertaking with large losses in efficiency. These are just pie-in-the-sky ideas, or flat out unrealistic.

7952 7y ago
You complain about minsinformation and then say stuff like that. HVDC is very widely deployed for interconnectors and grid connections. And there are >20 UHV lines in China, many over 1,000 km long. This is not pie-in-the-sky but physics. By using appropriate technology you reduce tranmsision losses and/or cost. Also consumption and demand are already very spread out in a traditional grid. A generator can go offline and the power is sourced from another location. In fact this is essential for nuclear stations as large generators can fail rapily. I agree that pumped hydro has limited value, and nothing is a panacea on its own. But most of the nuclear states actually have significant deployed pumped hydro capacity. It is a complementary technology. When nuclear power stations fail they can leave a big hole in generating capacity. Pumped hydro can deliver >1GW in a short amount of time and fill that hole. Otherwise you need to maintain more spinning reserve.