The Oil Drum

81 comments on DrumBeat: March 11, 2007

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Stoneleigh on March 11, 2007 - 8:55am

From World Web Of Electricity Charged Up:

"Imagine an energy version of 'Napster,'" Powers said. "We're talking about peer-to-peer energy trading where a solar homeowner in San Jose can capture kilowatts from the sun - and sell them to a homeowner in Shanghai - instantaneously. That's the future."

Existing power grids are already hugely complex. Massively increasing connectivity combined with smart-grid initiatives, such as this author appears to be proposing, would increase that complexity by orders of magnitude. The increase in bulk power transfers that deregulation has initiated, combined with the whittling away of safety margins (and therefore resilience) as too costly, have already pushed existing grids to the limit. Just upgrading them enough to reliably handle in the future what we expect of them now would be expensive and difficult enough. The scale of upgrade proposed in this article is (IMO) completely impractical.

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AlanfromBigEasy on March 11, 2007 - 5:10pm

I never expect to see HV DC links under the Bering Straits; but a new HV DC network on a continent wide basis are likely, and quite doable.

The Grand Inga proposal (44 GW hydro project near the mouth of the Congo with HV DC lines to every corner of Africa; Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria/West Africa and East Africa) is economically feasible today if the "risk premium" could be reduced. Combined with existing and near future hydro & geothermal projects, the African electrical grid could be almost 100% renewable.

In North America we have HV DC from Portland Oregon to Los Angeles (1.362 km, 3.1 GW), Northern Manitobe to Southern Manitoba (937 km, 1.8 GW & 895 km, 1.6 GW), Northern Quebec to Massachusetts (1100 km, 2 GW), North Dakota to Minnesota (710 km, 0.5 GW) and plans for two more lines from Wyoming to Phoenix AZ. A new federal law makes building new transmission lines much easier (Phoenix is using this law).

Add 75 to 100 more such lines with up to 10 GW capacity (my guess) and the regional grids may still have problems but power shifting between regions would be practical on a large scale. Figure a billion+ $ for each transmission line.

Best Hopes,

Alan