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The dumb part is running the cable 2300mi from Morocco to UK. It would make a lot more sense to run the cable across Straits of Gibraltar. Could even run it to
by ianburrell 4y ago
The dumb part is running the cable 2300mi from Morocco to UK. It would make a lot more sense to run the cable across Straits of Gibraltar. Could even run it to territory of UK. And then spend the rest of the money improving transmission lines across Europe. Power and money are fungible.
Or use the money to run multiple lines to Europe. Solar in Sahara for Europe makes a lot of sense. The article mentions a couple of projects.
- flavius29663 4y agoOn land there are huge issues with people not wanting power lines in their backyard. It has stopped a lot of German new green energy projects. If you take the ocean route, there is no more NIMBYsm, and especially not across 2 different countries.
- ianburrell 4y agoThey are going to have to accept new power lines. Improved grid is big part of green energy. For example, solar in Spain going to cities and north will be important. Same with wind from UK at night. The advantage of connecting Morocco to Spain and Spain to UK is get lots more flexibility and efficiency in distributing power.
- stephen_g 4y agoIt would probably actually be a good idea to do both (since the UK also has some other proposed HVDC links to Europe). That creates redundancy, having different paths, as well as opening the generation up to a wider market. It's actually not a bad idea to run a long HVDC through the ocean - they're very low-loss and it's frankly easier than running transmission over land given all the property rights etc. you need.