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Australian government approves AAPowerLink project to export solar to Singapore

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

#151

Post by lolc »

lazide wrote: post #143
audunw wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Space based solar might not take a form where we just put mirrors in space to boost the output of existing terrestrial solar cells. The benefit is that the receivers on the ground can receive energy directly from the sun when the sun is up, and the space mirrors can be used to provide light to areas that are completely dark in winter. I don’t think microwave beaming is ever viable Most fusion concepts are thermal pow…

Space based solar (lens or microwave) is a non starter for one simple reason - it would be an ideal supervillain weapon to anyone who could steer it.

The station couldn't be used as a threat. And its use would be very limited in time.

Taking out the rogue orbital power station would be a competition between very trigger happy militaries. Who wouldn't want to demonstrate their satellite killers on a legitimate target?

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

#152

Post by Aachen »

theshackleford wrote: post #140
Aachen wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely solar panels are affordable with typical Australian household incomes? And much more effective even in southern Tasmania at 45°S as compared to southern Finland at 60°N (where they're apparently cost-effective since they're building solar farms). If they feel their electricity provider is screwing with them, why not make their own? Probably even with batteries it would pay for itself given the ROI I'd guess pa…

I’do have to be able to afford a million plus dollar home first during a long running cost of living crisis before I could do any such thing.

Any roof over your head, or balcony where at least some solar can be installed to reduce electricity costs, costs a million plus USD-equivalent in Australia? That seems... unlikely

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

#153

Post by BobaFloutist »

eru wrote: post #103
ExoticPearTree wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure someone will figure out how to make a working solar sail that captures energy and beams it to earth via microwaves. Please enough of them far away from Earth and you get pretty much unlimited energy all year round.

Eventually, the limiting factor will be how to get rid of the waste heat. Even if you can turn 100% of the energy you received from space into electricity, in the end it'll all turn to heat.

Ok, so we get a really big heat pump that sends all the heat to space.

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

#156

Post by gonzo41 »

vlasky wrote: post #139

I'm Aussie and I can't believe this Sun Cable project is being taken seriously by our government. The longest submarine power cable in the world - the Viking Link - is a mere 756 km long and cost US$2.2bn to build. Sun Cable calls for a 4,200km submarine cable to be built! I do not expect the construction cost to scale linearly and I shudder to imagine the maintenance difficulties and expenses. Back in December 2015,…

Tasmanian energy crisis was because of a drought, not because the cable was cut. Tassie exports energy and the power company had lowered the dam levels selling power to Victoria that year expecting regular winter rain. That rain didn't happen. That, then combined with the line fault caused the issue. In fact, the suspected cause of the line issue was that the power company Tassie Hydro zapped the export line with too much current trying to make money from Victoria. That combined with the lowering of dams, perfect storm of greed and bad luck.

In addition, the boats that service these cables are mostly in the northern hemisphere, where most of the undersea cables exist. So there was a ~5 month wait on the repair. I'd expect a 4000Km cable to have it's own fleet of boats for servicing.

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

#157

Post by cjbgkagh »

vlasky wrote: post #139

I'm Aussie and I can't believe this Sun Cable project is being taken seriously by our government. The longest submarine power cable in the world - the Viking Link - is a mere 756 km long and cost US$2.2bn to build. Sun Cable calls for a 4,200km submarine cable to be built! I do not expect the construction cost to scale linearly and I shudder to imagine the maintenance difficulties and expenses. Back in December 2015,…

Why would it be superlinear instead of sublinear?

I can understand that the combined probability of breakage along the line could be a maintenance problem but the construction cost should have many amortizable components that deliver some sort of economics of scale.

I haven’t done the math so I have no idea on actual viability or if it’s a good idea or not.

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

#158

Post by graemep »

joha4270 wrote: post #50
Tade0 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly such a project is currently being explored, while a UK-Morocco line is continuing development: https://www.current-news.co.uk/uk-us-transatlantic-interconn... Weirdly enough the latter is projected to cost less than the now infamous Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.

Real projects has a way of encountering unexpected troubles in a way thay paper ones dont. On top of that there is the energy security problem, even if Morocco is less likey than Russia to try and play tricks. I wish them all luck, but we can't forget the advantages projects has before leaving Excel.

> On top of that there is the energy security problem, even if Morocco is less likey than Russia to try and play tricks.

A cable this long will be vulnerable to attack by any country that has submarines.

How is it going to be guarded?

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

#159

Post by seatac76 »

m2f2 wrote: post #32

Significant turning tables moment when big bully China aims at being the sole APAC superpower. That might explain why Singapore are interested and why 4200km of cable aren't such a big issue.

Will be easy to cut so this isn’t really secure.

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

#160

Post by coryrc »

londons_explore wrote: post #37
Djdjur7373bb wrote: post #5

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.

Power cables are getting cheaper and cheaper. The expensive part used to be the voltage conversion stations at the ends, but with mass production of MOSFETs for EV's these have now become far cheaper than the JFET's and other exotic silicon that used to be used. In turn, that means voltages can be higher, letting one use more of the cheaper PVC or XLPE insulating material and less expensive aluminium for the same amo…

> The expensive part used to be the voltage conversion stations at the ends, but with mass production of MOSFETs for EV's these have now become far cheaper than the JFET's and other exotic silicon that used to be used.

Why do you believe these things are related?

HVDC lines operate in the hundreds-of-kilovolts range. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basslink operates at 400kV. There are no MOSFETs or JFETs directly involved in stepping down that power.

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