3 ms·
The larger the geography of the grid (tied with HVDC) the more supply and demand average out. This minimizes the need for pumped storage (and its variations).
by entropicgravity 4y ago
The larger the geography of the grid (tied with HVDC) the more supply and demand average out. This minimizes the need for pumped storage (and its variations). To give just one example the UK is building an underwater HVDC directly between Morocco (solar) and the UK. So the known solutions are already available they just have to be implemented.
- p_l 4y agoExcept those solutions tend to ignore the cost of failures and that even with interconnects balancing the grid is not trivial - just inside european grid the problems are considerable, and there's still the issue of interconnects failing. And even then, you now need to overbuild not just for replacement of local plants, but also for replacement of plants on the other end of the continent. Great if you're selling gas or gas power plants, I guess, not so great if you want zero CO2 emissions especially with how powerhungry the replacement techs can be.