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Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

pv-tech.org

21–30 of 299 posts

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#21

Does it actually make economic sense to run a cable large enough for that kind of power from Australia to Singapore? I would have guessed there must be enough domestic customers or in Indonesia that would make more sense.

Indonesia probably has enough land for its own panels.

Indonesia is ~ 17 thousand islands, many steep equatorial jungled volcanic slopes and at 275.5 million is the fourth highest population for a country globally.

Land is in tight demand with food a priority over panels and issues that may not be apparent (clear slopes leads to instability, and keeping them clear is a Sisyphean task, etc).

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#23
post #15
post #4

Can someone explain how this makes sense economically, isn't it really expensive and lossy to transport electricity such a long distance?

yeah - dumb question from me as well. won't a lot of power be lost during transmission ? What material would they use for the cables at those vast distances to make the numbers work ?

Obligatory jwz post on the topic: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2002/11/engineering-pornography/

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#25
From the article, it looks like they are installing 20 GWp of solar cells. ("peak power" that is only achieved when the sun is right above the solar cells with no atmosphere in between). The plan seems to be to store 36-42 GWh, and to deliver 2 GW max.

That makes for a 20h energy storage at full power, and a big enough power reserve to recharge that storage during the day while delivering at full power. Likely a reserve for morning/evening/clouds. Easy to add more storage.

So, it's a 2 GW power link, not a 20 GW power link. It's a 20 GWp site, and that's impressive too. At 200 Wp (STC) per sq m, that is 100M m², or a 6 mile square not counting any access roads. Huge, but if five of these is all it takes to power Singapore, then I guess we're looking at a bright future.

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#26
post #15
post #4

Can someone explain how this makes sense economically, isn't it really expensive and lossy to transport electricity such a long distance?

yeah - dumb question from me as well. won't a lot of power be lost during transmission ? What material would they use for the cables at those vast distances to make the numbers work ?

HVDC has reasonable losses over very long distances and solar is extremely cheap. I believe aluminum is used for these cables.

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#27
post #4

Can someone explain how this makes sense economically, isn't it really expensive and lossy to transport electricity such a long distance?

Sun shines for free once the initial infra is set up. Using HVDC at 1100 kV you could transfer up to 65% of the original power which doesn’t sound terrible.

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#28
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah - dumb question from me as well. won't a lot of power be lost during transmission ? What material would they use for the cables at those vast distances to make the numbers work ?

Obligatory jwz post on the topic: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2002/11/engineering-pornography/

22 years old and about three phase AC power on copper cables rather than HVDC power on aluminium cable.

But, sure, worth it for the HN=referrer porn JWZ throws up, I guess?

Re: Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

#29
post #19
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unsure about Indonesia, but domestic customers in that region would be pretty limited. The closest major power users would be in Queensland (>1000km) away.

Data Centers, Green Steel production. Power == Opportunities. This is such a massive win for the environment.

You need water for all of that and that part of Australia is pretty arid.
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