A Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity

Re:A Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity by CyanLite2 on Thursday April 18, 2024 @05:07PM (#40080729)

Besides the safety issues others have brought up, you'd also have to replace the substations on both sides of the lines to support raising and lower at 2x the voltage. Most likely that would require roughly a 2x size in transformer and copper.

A better idea in the short term is using temperature sensors along the wire. In the winter, we should be able to push more current without risking burning out the wires if we can effectively monitor the temps in real time.

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Re:A Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity by lxgr on Friday April 19, 2024 @12:20AM (#40083397)

Don’t resistive losses in the wires increase with the square of the current?

I thought that’s why just pushing more current is not a great option.

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Re:A Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity by eternityforest on Friday April 19, 2024 @02:43AM (#40084022)

What kind of safety issues are involved? They all use dangerous voltages, 100kv and 200kv will both kill you.

Are higher voltages significantly more likely to cause a fire?

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Re:A Rarely Used Technique Could Double U.S. Grid Capacity by Doxin on Friday April 19, 2024 @07:36AM (#40085517)

They are significantly more likely to arc bigger distances. A 200kv line will arc twice the distance a 100kv line will. You'd need bigger separation between the different phases on a tower, you'd need longer insulators, you'd need new towers.

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