:: Current affairs ::

Monday, December 24, 2007

Scientific American: A Solar Grand Plan

The geography of solar power is obviously different from the nation's current supply scheme. Today coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants dot the landscape, built relatively close to where power is needed. Most of the country's solar generation would stand in the Southwest. The existing system of alternating-current (AC) power lines is not robust enough to carry power from these centers to consumers everywhere and would lose too much energy over long hauls. A new high-voltage, direct-current (HVDC) power transmission backbone would have to be built.

The original rivalry between AC and DC for long-distance power transmission pitted Edison and his Direct Current against the tag-team of Tesla and Westinghouse, supporting Alternating Current. It was intense enough to be nicknamed the war of currents, and while the conclusion had been forgone for decades, the last DC power station in the US only closed this past November.

Now DC, specifically HVDC, may be coming back in vogue due to the extreme distances demanded by certain methods of power production. Not being an electrical engineer I can't really offer comment except to say that Tesla has a freakish record of almost always being right, and scientists are still testing out new technologies based on his experiments (specifically wireless power transmission) 60+ years after his death. Let the second war of currents (Electric Boogaloo?) begin.

Posted by morland @ 09:15 PM

:: Comments ::

Re: the war of currents, Edison came out looking like a total psychopath (which is alluded to in your link on the war):

http://www.srobbin.com/2006/10/26/thomas-edison-electrocuting-an-elephant/

Posted by: Chad Stevens on January 3, 2008 04:54 PM

Tilting the scales in Tesla's favor is the fact that he was played by Bowie in "The Prestige". Advantage: Nikola Tesla

Posted by: friend of chad on February 22, 2008 12:31 PM

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