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A comment on Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lines Using Fences.

Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by weinzierl on Sunday January 28, 2024 @03:49AM (#39163688)
During the Dot-com bubble, I remember a startup in Germany that placed boxes under high-voltage transmission lines to measure the current and sold that data to analysts.

Never heard of them again, so I guess in the long run it was either cheaper to buy that data.

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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by Thri4895o on Sunday January 28, 2024 @04:53AM (#39164067)
Network frequency changes and fluctuates around 50hz. This change is random and unique. It is also captured on video/audio recording as background hum.

This data is quite valuable. You can reconstruct exact time (and region) when any video was taken.

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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by 127361 on Sunday January 28, 2024 @08:36AM (#39165588)
The police keep track of this, and it can be used to validate audio recording evidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_network_frequency_a...

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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by toomuchtodo on Sunday January 28, 2024 @11:10AM (#39167000)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38161677

https://datethis.app/

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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by 7952 on Sunday January 28, 2024 @05:09AM (#39164158)
There is a lot of interest at the moment in monitoring lines. The capacity of a line can change due to things like weather conditions. The capacity is rated based on a conservative set of assumptions. Sensors mean that they could send more power safely. This could help connect more renewable power.
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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by toomuchtodo on Sunday January 28, 2024 @12:48PM (#39167997)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38983886

https://electrek.co/2023/12/07/heimdall-power-meteomatics-gr...

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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by idiotsecant on Sunday January 28, 2024 @11:56AM (#39167497)
You can get all that data and more for free now on most interchange websites.
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Re:Harvesting Electricity from High-Voltage Transmission Lin... by DamonHD on Sunday January 28, 2024 @01:18PM (#39168252)
The various EU transparency laws/directives may mean that such data is freely published via ENTSO-E or similar...
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