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Transmission is cheap. But there is absolutely no need to site solar in deserts. It can be local, anywhere, coexisting neatly with other land use.
by ncmncm 5y ago
Transmission is cheap.
But there is absolutely no need to site solar in deserts. It can be local, anywhere, coexisting neatly with other land use.
- mdeeks 5y agoThe Real Engineering youtube link in one of the comments above mine in this thread has an example where putting it in the desert yields three times more than putting it on location in Germany. So there is a significant difference in some places. I'd imagine that makes a difference in being cost competitive. Also in the video: A single 700MW line from from morocco to spain cost 150M. Though I suspect thats a more expensive than overhead lines.
- ncmncm 5y agoThe lesson of the RE video was that they cancelled the Sahara solar projects because panels had got so cheap, putting them right there in Germany was better despite efficiency arguments. Efficiency turned out to matter a lot less than other things, as price fell.