If only there was a giant cable it was tethered to that could also carry electricity.
Comment on Floating turbine towers above — the S1500 hovers to harvest wind at 131 feet
tleb@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Does it have batteries on board? How does it connect the power to the grid? O_o
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
It’s obviously attached with wires. It can’t just float around and generate energy.
tleb@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
You say obviously but I don’t see how tethering a loose object with 5000ft of live wire is “obviously” safe
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
We’re surrounded by live wire all the time. They’re insulated, it’s fine.
meco03211@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oh. That makes it better.
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Our houses has loads of live wires, we know how to do it safely nowadays.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Through a HV cable run to the ground, along with the cable to anchor it.
MBech@feddit.dk 3 weeks ago
I read an article about it a while ago, and that said it’d be tethered to the ground, and power would be transfered through the tether.
RaoulDook@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The voltage being sent down would have to be really high to avoid loss going through such a long and probably thin cable. Like the difference in voltage loss going through a 100’ romex cable of 10-gauge wire with 12v DC vs 120v AC - you just can’t do it with 12v DC because the loss is far too high, but it’s no problem with 120v AC.
Magnify those losses times 500 for your 5000’ cable… maybe you need a 5000v line… then you have a dangerous high-voltage line flying around in the air. High-voltage transmission lines can arc to ground if they find a path, even though they’re insulated wires.
But I guess those guys probably know about that stuff too.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Depending on how the turbine is set up, it could generate AC power instead of DC. I believe they even have several options on how to do this.