3 ms·
Existing HVDC technology can easily span the US with negligible losses (less than 10%).
by fsh 4y ago
Existing HVDC technology can easily span the US with negligible losses (less than 10%).
- hutzlibu 4y ago10% is not negligible and it would be way more across continents around the globe. But if one could build indeed a global lossless energy grid, than this would mean solar power for everyone all the time, as somewhere on the planet, the sun is always shining.
- ben_w 4y agoI think it is negligible. In particular, PV is much more than 10% cheaper than many other options, and this would be a replacement for whatever the round-trip cost is even in a zero-$ storage system. My default number for HVDC is 5%/1000km, but I think that's out of date now; at that level, antipodal power would be 1-(0.95^20) = 64% loss, and while that's certainly something I'd avoid if possible, it's still good enough to make PV beat the TCO of batteries or fossil fuels or nuclear… if you ignore the TCO of installing and maintaining the cable, geopolitics, and all the other reasons we've not done that yet. (I have no idea what the TCO of undersea HVDC cables is).
- Tade0 4y agoHere's one data point (330km, 700MW, 880mln EUR): https://balticwind.eu/higher-cost-and-potential-delay-for-submarine-cable-between-poland-and-lithuania/ https://balticwind.eu/higher-cost-and-potential-delay-for-su... That being said the Baltic sea is shallow, averaging less than 50m in that area.
- ben_w 4y agoAs I read that, that's purchase price; it makes a huge difference if that lasts 10 years or 100 between replacement.