Sending energy from Australia to Singapore

Moving clean energy from places that can make a lot of it to the areas that need it is a game changer. Could a really, really long high voltage cable bring solar power from Australia to Singapore?

#planeta #supergrid #solarpower

[DWPlanetA]

Do you think a global supergrid is the way to go?

[LambentOrt]

Not to mention that the cable has to cross past Indonesia, which sits along the Pacific ring of fire, one of the most seismologically active areas in the world.

[orenjineko]

The classic problem for long cable is always about: more energy lost the further/longer the cable is.

[daanwilmer]

In Western Europe, we already have something similar but smaller scale. There are several undersea connections, for example, from Norway to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands amd the UK. The longest of these is 720km, though; a far cry from the 4200km needed here.

[lubumbashi]

Wouldn't it make more sense to connect Perth with Sydney? That way Sydney could get 3 hours extra solar energy just when the peak demand occurs.

[marcuslang]

A misconception: hot deserts are actually not good for solar but rather bad for solar:
Solar panels don't like high temperatures

[akhsinilhami]

4.300.km is basically Istanbul to Gibraltar. It seems shorter in this map because they just goes between one country, Indonesia

[ferrarimp]

A better solution is to generate the solar power closer to Singapore, such as in Indonesia, in Malaysia or on floating solar panels in Singapore waters. (For those who don't know, electricity transmitted over long distances, loses more energy the longer the distance to transmit across.)

[antonvann]

Singapore gets Australian solar power, meanwhile Australians pay extortionate prices for electricity.

[sonnyhull]

It’s frustrating that despite our potential for abundant, sustainable energy, Australian residents still pay some of the highest rates.

[mamons_]

Good luck with the constant underwater seismic activities 😂 also the volcanic one too.

[xfdjupg]

Here’s a fun fact for anyone interested, the distance from Australia to Singapore (4300 km / 2672 mi) is shorter than the distance from New York, NY United States to Los Angelos, CA United States (4490 km / 2790 mi). Enjoy!

[harenterberge]

Makes more sense to export the power to Indonesia and new Guinea.

[tropicalexplorer]

Thanks for the take over of Australia planning

[DorJinTan]

As long as it supplies Indonesia as well, it'll make sense.

[GTman]

Transmission losses can be reduced by using extraordinary voltages but to conduct useful power, the cross sectional area is going to large. Multiply this by the several thousands of kilometres and it may be that the mass of copper required gets interesting.
Someone with far superior knowledge has presumably already worked all this out & declared it fine.

[AHersheyHere]

For reference the transatlantic telegraph cable was a mere 3, 200 kilometers long.

[matthew]

The losses in the transmission of that length would be insane, it would have to be millions of volts to combat losses

[oceanbreeze]

It’s a great idea if the cables run in two main sections.

One from mainland Australia through to some of Australia’s external islands like Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The second section runs from those islands through to Singapore.

[irfankhan]

Australia is already doing it by connecting Tasmania to Melbourne. However, it's not just Australia directly. We first need to connect the solar farms from central Australia to the beach which requires a transmission line crossing the harsh Australia outback. Also, Australia is currently challenged itself to expand its Grid system just to power the infra required for the EV revolution in its south eastern coastal cities where majority of its population lives.