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 Robert Dedomenico Jun 4, 2014 04:03  |
Many people are unaware of the numerous advantages of DC power for transmission, because it is only because of recent enabling technologies that they can be realized.
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 Andy Silber Jun 4, 2014 04:18 | Proposal contributor
Robert,
That's true. Imagine how much the technology would develop with the building of a large scale grid either in the US or Europe (http://www.friendsofthesupergrid.eu/)
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Robert Dedomenico Jun 4, 2014 04:28 |
Last I knew, the Eurotunnel has DC through it. One of the main reasons for that is that DC doesn't lose as much in induced eddy currents when buried. Another reason is that the grids on either end of a DC line don't have to be synchronized. There had been a rule of thumb for the shortest economical DC transmission distance... something on the order of 1000 miles. Things like that change with technology and economic conditions.
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Andy Silber Jun 4, 2014 04:08 | Proposal contributor
My impression is that the shortest distance has shrunk to about 500 miles. In special cases like connecting two asynchronous grids, the distance can be 100 meters. Check out Tres Amigos (http://www.tresamigasllc.com/)
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Robert Dedomenico Jun 4, 2014 04:08 |
Not surprised to hear that. Apparently, economy of the supporting components have made amazing progress since I last heard anything about it. I like the use of DC in low voltage applications, too, in fact... it is a critical part of my transportation proposal.
You know... if there were a good transport system using wayside DC power... perhaps there could be some synergies with some new DC distribution?
Interesting site, tresamigasllc... I'll look it over a bit more tonight.
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 Climate Colab Aug 5, 2014 08:25 |
Unfortunately, this proposal requires congressional action, and so it doesn't fit squarely within the requirements of the contest prompt.
More importantly, the judges wish the author spent more time focused on the non-technical aspects of feasibility. HVDC is a pretty clear technology intervention for the grid's needs, but that's not what's been holding us back!
Here, the author suggests leadership by DOE, a FERC that would exercise eminent domain, and a carbon tax to fund the capital investments. While all of these things could be possible, the political weight of them is overwhelming. Because we felt that the discussion of these political, regulatory, and economic challenges was lacking, we could not warrant advancing the proposal to the semi-finalist round.
I'd like to see the author take another look and address these nontechnical obstacles.I'd also like to see more clarity on why this leadership would happen at DOE. FERC has been leading among government agencies in creating creative ways to reduce the access costs of distributed renewable generation, which aligns well here.
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