Gift link, but may have a view count limit. Archived copy of the article for when that happens.
Just have a think talks a bit about this as well.
The New Era of Clean Energy: Transcontinental Power Lines | British homes would be powered with African energy under an ambitious plan
Submitted 3 days ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to energy@slrpnk.net
Comments
tomatolung@lemmy.world 3 days ago
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
If this technology takes off, could we tile the Sahara with solar panels? It is close to the equator, and it seems like it might be one of the ecosystems which would be least impacted by the addition of solar panels.
threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
It will take nearly 10,000 miles of cable for four offshore transmission lines—far more than existing suppliers could serve up. So Morrish started a cable-supply company to build a factory, with a tower taller than the Washington Monument, in which colossal cables will be lowered as they are coated in insulation.
The factory’s construction near the Scottish village of Fairlie has been delayed several times. Locals are doubtful it will happen.
“It’s a nice area, a scenic area, and you’re going to build a huge factory running 24/7?” said Rita Holmes, a longtime Fairlie resident.
Maybe it’s just the infrastructure nerd in me, but a giant tower which produces undersea cables for distributing renewable energy sounds like a cool tourist attraction. They could put big windows on the tower so people can see the cables being made.
reddig33@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Maybe don’t rely on other countries for your energy needs. We’ve seen how well that worked out with Saudi oil and Russian natural gas.
aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Eeehhhh, personally I am a bit warmer to the risks when there are renewables involved
joeldebruijn@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
I do think we need multiple tactics:
Local (national) surplus energy stored also locally (home battery, chargings cars, powering local industry from renewables at moments it isn’t needed elsewhere), so all kinds of buffers. To also use it within the same country at other moments.
Diversify solar wind and thermal etc
Exchange cross-borders despite geopolitical risc. Countries with more sun hours or more steady wind or abundant geothermal sources or more hydro … could export their surplus or capacity but also import.
For solar: if storage exceeds need, the daytime countries at any moment should power the nighttime countries, but only to balance local smart grids I think?