Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
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Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#2> between 200 and 600 GW of photovoltaic generation capacity
... they do that across the pacific with HVDC; would that be a viable "earth braking system?" Daylight savings with teeth.
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#3Doesnt China have it's own supply of deserts a bit closer to home?
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#4Isn't cheaper turn the electricity into liquid hydrogen?!
Hydrogen can be stored for months, delivered by car, tubes, ships, etc
Do not have many losses across long distances
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#5Why not turn it into microwaves and bounce it via mirrors in orbit? Those cables are super expensive and there is a current shortage of cable manufacturing capacity globally.
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#6Doesnt China have it's own supply of deserts a bit closer to home?
Part of the idea is that the producer and consumer of the energy are on opposite hemispheres and at different longitudes. That means when its winter in China, it is going to be summer in Chile. There is also a considerable time difference between the places which helps to supply electric energy via solar power even while it is night in China.
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#7Doesnt China have it's own supply of deserts a bit closer to home?
I was immediately thinking about early morning in Asia, still dark outside, everybody puts the kettle on.
If these long distance cables really can transport energy efficiently it might solve some of the challenges with renewables!
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#8Isn't cheaper turn the electricity into liquid hydrogen?! Hydrogen can be stored for months, delivered by car, tubes, ships, etc Do not have many losses across long distances
Not only are the hydrogen production facilities quite expensive, there is a huge loss in producing hydrogen from electricity and back. Also storage is expensive and has energy losses due to the compression work. And you need to transport the hydrogen over large distances. For the same amount of energy to be put into the Asian grid, you need at least 2-3x as many solar cells, if you go via hydrogen.
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#9Isn't cheaper turn the electricity into liquid hydrogen?! Hydrogen can be stored for months, delivered by car, tubes, ships, etc Do not have many losses across long distances
Electricity to hydrogen followed by conversion to liquid and cryogenic transport is about 65% lossy. That doesn't mean you would never do it given cheap enough input electricity but it's not the easy answer.
Re: Chile wants to export solar energy to Asia via 15,000km submarine cable
#10What percentage of power is lost to line-loss at those distances? And if you are going to cover long distances you usually push up to 750kV or more: how long before there's an insulation breakdown somewhere along your 15,000km and you get some very energetic arcing and sparking underwater? Not to mention that it makes for an interesting asset to target (though only a few nations have the "tools" to attack power cable on the sea floor).