underwater electricity transmission lines, profits, global electricity grid, R. Buckminster Fuller,
Dymaxion Map, links, ground lines, costs, France, England, Scandinavian countries
Electricity is already flowing in high-voltage
direct current (HVDC) cables underwater in a number
of places. For example, underwater links connect
France to England, Morrocco and Spain,and the Scandinavian
countries to Europe. Underwater cables require extra
protection, plus converter/invertor stations at
each end, so the costs are often triple the typical
overhead line expense.
Electricity losses from underwater and above ground
links have been calculated for many years. These
losses are all factored into the cost-benefit analysis
of any new underwater link before any cable is laid.
The distances between continents is much shorter
than most people think. The underwater portions
of the global electricity grid would be relatively
short, since most links are across relatively straits.
GENI uses Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion
Map to show that high-voltage tranmission lines
are primarily over land. There are relatively few
underwater linkages to be crossed: Bering Strait,
Gibraltor, Hormuz, Suez, Malacca and Timor. As a
priority, it's important to get entire continents:
North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa,
linked first.
The ultimate intercontinental link that
GENI proposes is connecting Siberia and North America
via the Bering Strait — an underwater distance
of only 90 miles. This is about 3 times the length
of existing links across English Channel (between
France and England), but would be the prime diurnal
interconnection -- linking the nighttime and daytime
hemispheres
