News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Nothing like this will be built again (2002). Parent comment

Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by sovnade on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @12:15PM (#29894346)
Except you lose a lot of that power through attenuation. You can't really send electricity from the sahara to europe efficiently. Even over relatively short distances (a few dozen miles), you're losing up to 10-15% of your overall energy. A thousand miles or more...and I can't even find numbers on that because nobody does it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by kenfox on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @12:52PM (#29894947)
Your 10 to 15% figure is total transmission and distribution loss from producer to consumer. If you scale up the transmission distance only, the total shouldn't change much. There are several studies referenced in this course http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2010/ph240/harting1/. Looks like 2 to 3% loss over 1000km.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by pfdietz on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @12:24PM (#29894485)
Since the total loss in the US grid is maybe 6%, your short range figure there cannot be right.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by nolta on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @12:39PM (#29894744)
1000+ mile links exist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by kwhitefoot on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @03:09PM (#29897116)
You lose a few percent per 1000 km using HVDC. Even AC transmission doesn't have the losses you describe.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Nothing like this will be built again (2002) by notreallyserio on Tuesday January 11, 2022 @12:40PM (#29894746)
Is there some way to site manufacturing that requires lots of electricity (aluminum?) nearby? Maybe electricity could be exported by way of material.
[ Parent | on HN ]