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> Long distance HVDC runs are apparently now so good that it is commercially feasible to drop a few million solar panels outside of Darwin, and run an under-sea

> Long distance HVDC runs are apparently now so good that it is commercially feasible to drop a few million solar panels outside of Darwin, and run an under-sea HVDC cable to Singapore. Whoa, that's impressive. Do you know what the per-mile cost would be? The great circle distance from Darwin, NT to Singapore is a little over 2000 miles; call it 2500 to account for routing around the intervening islands and such. Though I'm not sure that Darwin is the best place to drop a few million solar panels, considering its stormy climate. A few hundred miles south towards the desert, maybe ;-)

paranoidrobot 4y ago
The project I'm referring to is the Australia-Asia Power Link by Suncable[1]. It was supposed to be an AUD$30bn project, but I don't know the proper cost, but $30bn/4500km = $6.6k/meter. That includes the solar panels, and a massive battery too, as I understand it. It went into administration in January, because the backers disagreed about further funding for the project. Also, When I say "outside darwin" I didn't mean in the suburbs. It may not be obvious just looking at satellite maps, but large areas of that part of Australia are subject to seasonal flooding. If you're building a project like this, you need to pick higher ground to avoid it being flooded. They basically have two seasons: Wet, and Dry. During wet season, they still get plenty of sun. Also, large areas of that part of the world are protected National Parks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia-Asia_Power_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia-Asia_Power_Link
- defrost 4y ago
  It's more than a disagreement about funding, it's a disagreement about feasibility. Long HVDC lines are feasible, as are long HDVC lines across (some) sea floors. Even longer lines with intermittent stations across sea floors are feasible. What's pushing the engineering limits and the stability of forward capital funding is a single really long undersea HVDC cable crossing multiple fault lines in one of the more volcanic earthquake prone regions of the world with a few very deep trenches. There's no fallback in the quite probable case of disruption, no cheap way to add redundancy, and no cost effective way to deal with breakages. The kinds of milestones being missed that are alluded to in the wikipedia article are feasible engineering solutions to route challenges.

paranoidrobot 4y ago

The project I'm referring to is the Australia-Asia Power Link by Suncable[1]. It was supposed to be an AUD$30bn project, but I don't know the proper cost, but $30bn/4500km = $6.6k/meter. That includes the solar panels, and a massive battery too, as I understand it. It went into administration in January, because the backers disagreed about further funding for the project. Also, When I say "outside darwin" I didn't mean in the suburbs. It may not be obvious just looking at satellite maps, but large areas of that part of Australia are subject to seasonal flooding. If you're building a project like this, you need to pick higher ground to avoid it being flooded. They basically have two seasons: Wet, and Dry. During wet season, they still get plenty of sun. Also, large areas of that part of the world are protected National Parks. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia-Asia_Power_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia-Asia_Power_Link

defrost 4y ago
It's more than a disagreement about funding, it's a disagreement about feasibility. Long HVDC lines are feasible, as are long HDVC lines across (some) sea floors. Even longer lines with intermittent stations across sea floors are feasible. What's pushing the engineering limits and the stability of forward capital funding is a single really long undersea HVDC cable crossing multiple fault lines in one of the more volcanic earthquake prone regions of the world with a few very deep trenches. There's no fallback in the quite probable case of disruption, no cheap way to add redundancy, and no cost effective way to deal with breakages. The kinds of milestones being missed that are alluded to in the wikipedia article are feasible engineering solutions to route challenges.