ABB is the leader in HVDC transmission
That's excellent news. I really hope the U.S. builds these HVDC lines out, it would strengthen the economy. Perhaps you've already seen this article in Forbes:
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A single 765,000-volt transmission line can move about 1% of the total average U.S. electric load. Thousands of miles of these lines are already up and running. It will take another 22,000 miles to knit the existing wires together into a national grid. This backbone will be able to move about 25% of our current electricity consumption over distances that span significant fractions of the continent. Electrical losses will be modest, because very high voltage lines are fantastically efficient. The backbone will cost $75 billion to build. It will add about 0.3 cents of transmission cost per kilowatt-hour to the retail price of electricity, which currently averages about 9 cents.
By pooling demand, the backbone will let cheap power chase high demand around the clock and across the country. It will let inexpensive coal, uranium, water behind a dam or (eventually) wind, sun and other renewables displace expensive gas-fired power. It will lower the capital cost of electricity by allowing fuller use of billion-dollar power plants, much as filling every seat on a jumbo jet lowers the average cost of flying. A plant located in (say) Lebanon, Kans., the geographic center of the country, will be within easy reach of peak loads on both coasts and everywhere in between.
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forbes.com |
