Saharan sun's solar power could provide Europe's electricity

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

PS News Break. It's time for our regular news feed; "An attack on a Nigerian oil pipeline has pushed oil above $124 a barrel." ABC news 28 Jul 2008.

Pipelines are one area of vulnerability. But not the only one.

For my many sins as a a professional sparky, I am now also a member of the Indian Institution of Electrical Engineers. My doing. I accepted their invitation.
Anyway, I now get their monthly publication.
A recurring topic is the theft of the steel elements from overhead transmission pylons. Risky, but it happens regularly.

Electrical power transmission from the Sahara to Europe might just have similar problems. Whether by overhead or underground.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by Besoeker

Pipelines are one area of vulnerability. But not the only one.

For my many sins as a a professional sparky, I am now also a member of the Indian Institution of Electrical Engineers. My doing. I accepted their invitation.
Anyway, I now get their monthly publication.
A recurring topic is the theft of the steel elements from overhead transmission pylons. Risky, but it happens regularly.

Electrical power transmission from the Sahara to Europe might just have similar problems. Whether by overhead or underground.

Of course, goes without saying. There are no magical solutions that offer 100% reliability anywhere in any industry or technology. That does not stop them being used on the whole successfully. If DESERTEC gets built and is built well, I suspect on the whole it will be successful, like most well planed and engineered projects.

[UrbanFarmboy]

The largest problem with this idea is that current transmission technology is not sufficient to make this possible. Energy looses its power the farther it travels so the economics of building billions of dollars of solar pannels thousands of miles away when transmission efficiency is so low are not very good.

[prashamk]

Actually we need to device a technology that enables us to transmit electricity, wirelessly.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by UrbanFarmboy

The largest problem with this idea is that current transmission technology is not sufficient to make this possible. Energy looses its power the farther it travels so the economics of building billions of dollars of solar pannels thousands of miles away when transmission efficiency is so low are not very good.

As I understand for a long DC transmission line, the smaller losses, and reduced construction cost of a DC line, can offset the additional cost of converter stations at each end of the line. I guess like many things economics will rule the day, but that does not seem to stop the planning for this type of technology. I suspect a view might be held that with the rising cost of fossil fuels, the economics will work in its favour in the longer term.

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

Of course, goes without saying.

Quite so.
Perhaps you could explain the point you were making when you commented on the attack on the Nigerian pipeline in a thread about solar energy?

[Besoeker]

Originally Posted by UrbanFarmboy

The largest problem with this idea is that current transmission technology is not sufficient to make this possible. Energy looses its power the farther it travels so the economics of building billions of dollars of solar pannels thousands of miles away when transmission efficiency is so low are not very good.

There is no really fundamental problem with long transmission line technology for HVDC.
For sure, there are constraints.
Conductor current carrying capacity and acceptable voltage drop between the sending and receiving end. In my experience (on very much shorter ~1km cables at 11kVac) it is the need to limit voltage drop that determines conductor size - and cost.

I guess there has to be a trade-off between capital cost and revenue loss from transmission energy loss amortised over the life expectancy of the system.

[sonimus]

Actually it would require only 700 km2 of solar panels in Sahara to power all the world!

[Wowbagger]

Originally Posted by UrbanFarmboy

The largest problem with this idea is that current transmission technology is not sufficient to make this possible. Energy looses its power the farther it travels so the economics of building billions of dollars of solar pannels thousands of miles away when transmission efficiency is so low are not very good.

Unless we colonize the Sahara...

[LMagic007]

Yes for the large part it really seems to be a cost issue and evidence increasingly suggests it's expected to become affordable and thus to some degree represents a part of the future of solar. In relation to risk the world is already at risk with foreign oil dependency and that speaks for itself.

One of the key beauties of solar is that is can be mass produced and scaled up relatively quickly and increasingly cheaply.