5 ms·
Ah yes, "just build it in the desert". It's only a matter of: - Building hectares upon hectares of solar panels in one of the most hostile regions in the world
by ohgodplsno 5y ago
Ah yes, "just build it in the desert". It's only a matter of:
- Building hectares upon hectares of solar panels in one of the most hostile regions in the world
- Maintaining them because the sand is horribly damaging, and replacing them regularly
- ignore the fact that, in the Sahara, there's multiple wars going on over there and that it would be a prime location for a terrorist attack
- Somehow, also build the infrastructure to transfer that energy through the desert without losing it all as heat. Remember, you've got multiple GW coming out of here. A single 800kV line will not be enough
- have backup power lines in case your inaccessible and hard to repair line breaks.
Man, life as a solar zealot sounds easy, all you have to do is ignore physics and reality.
- davidgay 5y ago> ... in the Sahara ... I suspect the OP was in the US. Desert would then be something like Nevada - definitely a shortage of wars, and Sagebrush scrub (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagebrush_scrub https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagebrush_scrub) is probably less destructive than the Saraha's sands...
- barathr 5y agoYes, sorry, you're right -- I forgot to state that I was speaking from a US-based perspective where there is ample land (and grid infrastructure) that could support baseload solar at scale (in addition to rooftop solar, which will put a huge dent in daytime CO2e/kWh).