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At this length aluminium would have been used instead most likely. With a typical HVDC line not exceeding 1200mm2 conductor cross section it's about 13k tonnes
by Tade0 2y ago
At this length aluminium would have been used instead most likely.
With a typical HVDC line not exceeding 1200mm2 conductor cross section it's about 13k tonnes, so 0,025% of global aluminium production.
- raverbashing 2y ago> not exceeding 1200m2 conductor cross section Technically right but I think you mean 1200mm2 (a radius of approx 20mm)
- Tade0 2y agoYes! I actually had an autocorrect suggestion for "1200m2" in there for some reason.
- gdiamos 2y agoAt $1.127/lb of aluminum that only comes out to a bit less than $30,000 for the raw materials. That's astounding.
- thehappypm 2y agoI think you forgot to multiply pounds / 2000 = tons
- Tade0 2y agoThere's a lot more to a HVDC line than just the conductor, but ballpark estimate for a 1GW line is $1mln/km - scales accordingly with power. Still, you could wrap the world around at the equator with this for a paltry $40bln. Now scale that 10x and you have yourself a practical global grid solution for what, $400bln? That's less than half the US military budget - absolutely doable if you get enough economies on board.