3 ms·

All the while the north sea with it's wind is right there, and the Sahara with it's sun nearby too. Some investment in long distance power transmission would g

• im3w1l 6y ago
  Importing energy from Sahara comes with serious geopolitical issues. Do you really want to commit to peacekeeping in a huge area of Africa? Keep in mind that oil can be stockpiled much more easily than electricity, stockpiles that let you weather small storms. Importing electricity means being on top of every hint of a blip.
  • eloff 6y ago
    There are many countries in North Africa of varying levels of stability and many locations for potential underwater transmission lines. If Israel can build natural gas pipelines to Italy, I think we can handle a subsea electrical cable. You don't want all your eggs in one basket, but this seems like a poor excuse for having zero eggs at all.
• after_care 6y ago
  Long distance power transmission is a significant political and military liability, not to mention a fantastic terrorist target. We cannot guarantee that the UK will be at peace with every county between them and the Sahara forever. Hosting the power line would grant significant political or military leverage.
  • eloff 6y ago
    You don't want a single point of failure. Having multiple lines across a geographic space is the way to go. It's a big upfront investment, but it could be much cheaper than storage at scale. I think ultimately you want power transmission stretching from the UK to Japan so as the sun moves the power generation continues. I imagine it will happen one day, because it would seem to make so much sense, but this is something governments could make happen a lot sooner if they put their mind to it.