Last week Oklahoma approved a hugh green energy project, completely unique. They approved power line construction from south Kansas and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma into the Oklahoma City area.
So what you ask? DC! The power lines are all to connect new planned wind farms. BUT, more important, they are DC transmission lines. Shipping electricity via copper cables has a cost, resistance, the farther you send it the more you lose. AC transmission can sap 20% of the generated wattage over many hundreds of miles, but with DC only a couple percent. The fastest way to get more energy is conserve, DC (direct current) does that. Ship it DC, convert it to AC near point of use.
Germany, England, Norway and Denmark are laying DC cables from the wind farms in the North Sea to move more of what they make to the user. Thanks to Thomas Edison defeating Tesla and others in the early days of electricity it has taken us over 100 years to see that he was wrong, DC transmission is the better method.
(Edison bought circus elephants to kill, he electrocuted them in public shows around the country to scare the public from DC. All his inventions were based on AC and he protected it by suggesting DC was so dangerous it could kill the largest land animal, it was impossible to control safely. It was appalling, the man was disgusting.)
Okalhoma doing something energy efficient with the king of the science deniers, Jim Inhofe, and Dr No, Tom Coburn in the Senate?
ReplyDeleteAmazin...
Ron
Well to be clear, this is a business group doing this, only permitting was required. But having said that, in Kansas gop denier Brownback recently approved a new power line to a wind energy site, but he did not approve it for the capacity requested, he approved it for half, which in this case means they cannot expand the number or power of the turbines since the lines won't carry it, they would have to apply again for it. So, as you say, it is amazin.
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising to hear of Oklahoma doing anything not half stupid. I suppose you've gotta be from here to appreciate that fully.
ReplyDeleteRubye Jack;
ReplyDeleteThis transmission line network will be finished no later than the first of 2016. It will connect a couple of existing wind farms as well as some which will be installed in late 2015. Long power lines take a while, but wind turbines can be ordered, manufactured, and installed in under a year.