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Building transmission lines is a technical solution but not an economic or socially viable one. The amount of permitting required only makes it worthwhile if it

Building transmission lines is a technical solution but not an economic or socially viable one. The amount of permitting required only makes it worthwhile if it is unlocking a great resource. It is not viable to build transmission lines that usually operate with no load just in case it is windy at location A one day but not at B. Extreme prices in Alberta were recently caused by a lack of wind across the province. Turns out sometimes it isn’t windy anywhere! Similar can happen for sun. A big storm can move in and it is dark and cloudy and you get 10% of nameplate for 5 days. I think ammonia production by solar power near deserts is going to be the missing link that provides the flexibility we need to keep the grid reliable on a cloudy windless day.

heurisko 5y ago
Not only is it viable, but it's already happening. On a domestic level, countries like Germany have legislation that targets accelerating internal grid connections. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzausbaubeschleunigungsgesetz_%C3%9Cbertragungsnetz https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzausbaubeschleunigungsges... On a supranational level in Europe, the EU has targets to increase grid interconnections between countries. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/infrastructure/electricity-interconnection-targets_en https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/infrastructure/electricit... On an intergovernmental level, outside of the EU the UK is building an underwater cable to Denmark, to share hydro and wind energy. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/13/work-begins-in-lincolnshire-on-worlds-longest-subsea-power-cable-viking-link https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/13/work-beg...
- liketochill 5y ago
  Great news for Europe. I was only considering America and Canada when I made comment above.
Symbiote 5y ago
You can see the European grids: https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/ https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/ On https://www.electricitymap.org/map https://www.electricitymap.org/map you can see the transfers between national (ish) grids, and that the transmission lines aren't idle. You can slide the map to North America, but the data is very incomplete.

heurisko 5y ago

Not only is it viable, but it's already happening. On a domestic level, countries like Germany have legislation that targets accelerating internal grid connections. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzausbaubeschleunigungsgesetz_%C3%9Cbertragungsnetz https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzausbaubeschleunigungsges... On a supranational level in Europe, the EU has targets to increase grid interconnections between countries. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/infrastructure/electricity-interconnection-targets_en https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/infrastructure/electricit... On an intergovernmental level, outside of the EU the UK is building an underwater cable to Denmark, to share hydro and wind energy. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/13/work-begins-in-lincolnshire-on-worlds-longest-subsea-power-cable-viking-link https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/13/work-beg...

liketochill 5y ago
Great news for Europe. I was only considering America and Canada when I made comment above.

Symbiote 5y ago

You can see the European grids: https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/ https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/ On https://www.electricitymap.org/map https://www.electricitymap.org/map you can see the transfers between national (ish) grids, and that the transmission lines aren't idle. You can slide the map to North America, but the data is very incomplete.