Report this comment to a moderator

Iceland's volcanoes could power the UK: but at what cost?

To answer a few of the comments above; 1) that estimate of 3% loss/1000 km is way off; that is a proper figure for 800kV HVDC overhead power lines, not cables, which are more like 7%/1000 km (NorNed cable basis); 2)max capacity per cable pair < 1.0 GW (NorNed is 700 MW); we'd need 10 cable pairs to make a dent; 3) it should be be considered that a more robust EU supergrid deserves the priority: deep water undersea cables are quite expensive and difficult to repair, but on land and in near-offshore areas "elpipes" based on aluminum conductors and having up to 30X as much power capacity are feasible. I am not at all oppose to this idea conceptually, but for such a massive undertaking, it makes sense to consider and develop advanced technologies before beginning.

16 Apr 2012

1:03 pm