[LINK] Hold up your hands if you Like HT Transmission Lines - Was - solar plants (Tom Koltai)

[Phillip Musumeci]

> Err. No Jan, Solar Power can't be considered base load, therefore it is
> only good for peak load.
> Peak Load is 7:30 am to 9:00 am and 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
>
> During the summer, Peak load (aircon) can extend from around midday
> through to 6:00 pm.
>
> At night of course, unfortunately there is very little solar power
> generated.
>

There is some complementarity between High Voltage DC lines and renewables.
 If we have an east-west link across Australia, solar power from WA for
1:30pm-5pm corresponds to eastern states' 3:30pm-7pm.  If the consumers on
the eastern states operate in daylight savings mode in summer, they might
even have peak energy use a little earlier in the solar day for WA sources.
 Throw in solar with thermal storage (instead of photovoltaics only) might
just about cover the evening base load.

The HV DC links will probably help in Australia because we seem to have hot
rocks and tidal sources and solar collection locations all located far away
from high population density areas.  (by the way, HV DC links are in the
million of voltages range so current flows are much lower meaning less heat
loss)

phillip

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