Thread: Europe unites to build renewable energy 'supergrid'

The Guardian: It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany's vast arrays of solar panels, and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts with the hydro-electric dams nestled in...

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~My comments are enclosed by~ By autumn, the nine governments involved – Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland and the UK – hope to have a plan to begin building a high-voltage direct current network ~USA needs similar HVDC power lines to connect the West Texas wind corridor = World's best to the East and West coast where most of the electricity customers live~ within the next decade. It will be an important step in achieving the European Union's pledge that, by 2020, 20% of its energy will come from renewable sources.

More than 100GW of offshore wind projects are under development in Europe, around 10% of the EU's electricity demand, and equivalent to about 100 large coal-fired plants. The surge in wind power means the continent's grid needs to be adapted.

If you have additional capacity, which you will do within these lines, it will allow power trading between countries and that improves EU competitiveness," said Wilkes.

Producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun's heat to boil water and drive turbines – with marine, geothermal and wind projects elsewhere on the continent. Scientists at the IE have estimated it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and the deserts of the Middle East to meet all Europe's energy needs.

In this grid, electricity would be transmitted along high voltage direct current cables. These are more expensive than traditional alternating-current cables, but they lose less energy over long distances.
~Several thousand miles of HVDC =high voltage direct current power lines are already operational, so the technology is ready. Let's do it. Neil~

The principle of DC, as I understand it, is phase-matching. But that problem was licked with phase-shifters in the US. It's also been suggested that DC is more efficient for long-distance HV transmission of power, but everything I've read says differently. In wetter or overwater areas such as around Europe, they make some since, which is probably why Europe is going with them.

But I honestly think the other main reason is standardization of the EU grid. One look at this chart, have with 50 Hz and half ith 60 Hz systems shows you why. Attempting to convert one system to another is huge! Simply connecting the various countries' grids using HVDC is a lot easier.