Highlights
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2024-11-30 19:25 That’s been made cheaply possible by electronics, and it’s true for transmission scale transformers as well.
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2024-12-01 10:49 I’m your host Michael Bernard, Chief strategist of tfie.
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2024-11-30 19:14 HVDC lines always deliver more of the power put into them regardless of the distance the electricity travels, which is a significant factor in and of itself.
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2024-12-01 10:19 Japan is similarly challenged. While most people think of it as a country, or if they know more. Think of it as three or four big islands. It actually has 6,852 islands, with 430 of them being populated. Japan is looking at two major HVDC power links to Asia to enable it to break free of its need to generate and manage all of its own electricity in a limited geographical area with significant terrain challenges.
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2024-12-01 10:20 Similarly, most people think of the British Isles as a few big islands, but it’s actually well over 6,000 islands, with close to 200 of them permanently occupied. Denmark has a mainland, but also 1000 islands, with 70 of them being inhabited. This pattern repeats itself globally. The world is much more physically fractal and fractured than is apparent from maps and globes. Remember, HVDC doesn’t lose effectiveness when submerged, unlike alternating current transmission.
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2024-12-01 10:19 Much of what has been written about NIMBY’s for wind energy applies to transmission projects as well. HVDC holds the promise of being able to dodge this problem in a lot of places where it’s impossible to overcome local outrage at the thought of big metal towers
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2024-12-01 10:19 It is possible to bury the line for a few miles as it doesn’t have increased losses to nearly the same extent. And HVDC can travel arbitrarily long distances underground. It’s a bit more expensive, but it’s a way to dodge a lot of the NIMBY concerns
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2024-12-01 10:19 And the last thing you can do with hvdc, that’s Interesting is that you can string it on existing AC power pads, replacing the AC lines, effectively making your existing accepted transmission route deliver a lot more electricity to highly populated areas. That avoids NIMBY complaints too.
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2024-12-01 10:18 Alternating current has transmission limitations due to physics. Most long distance transmission today is built using high voltage alternating current. But it had some interesting challenges. It is limited to 765 kilovolts per line, which is more than enough to fry an egg by itself. And you can string multiple lines due to the nature of alternating current.
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2024-12-01 10:18 After that, voltage losses due to the magnetic electromagnetic. Electromagnetic field interacting with the line’s insulation and heating make alternating current uneconomic.
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2024-12-01 10:18 Most of the transmission is through elevated lines, in part due to the expense of bearing lines and maintaining underground lines, but also because the heat buildup problem is worse underground
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2024-12-01 10:18 And they hold more charge, which limits the distance they can transmit electricity to about 80 km. Holding more charge point capacitance means that more energy has to be pushed into the line before it can be reversed.
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2024-11-30 19:23 Until 1954, there was no real alternative to the set of compromises related to alternating current.
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2024-12-01 10:48 It’s one of the top innovations in the world of electricity and it’s coming soon to a grid near you if it isn’t already there. The set of innovations that have led to HVDC transmission being increasingly competitive in places where where AC is less effective are going to enable greater growth of renewables globally
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2024-12-01 10:48 China’s State Grid Corporation has seriously put forward the idea of building a global HVDC grid to tie all of the wind and solar power in the world together by 2050. Imagine the wind energy from China at night powering the United States and Europe during the day. The Future truly is and electric.