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High-Temp Superconductors To Connect Power Grids

Posted by timothy on from the what've-y'-got-t'-swop? dept.

physburn writes "Somewhere in a triangle between Roswell (UFO) NM, Albuquerque (Left Turn) NM, and Amarillo (Do you know the way?) TX, a 22.5 square mile triangle of High Temperature Superconductor pipeline is to be built. Each leg of the triangle can carry 5GW of electricity. The purpose to load-balance and sell electricity between America's three power grids. Previously the Eastern Grid, Western Grid and Texan Grid have been separate, preventing cheap electricity being sold from one end of America to the other. The Tres Amiga Superstation, as it is to be called, will finally connect the three grids. The superstation is also designed to link renewable solar and wind power in the grids, and is to use HTS wire from American Superconductor. Some 23 years after its invention, today HTS comes of age. "

7 of 332 comments (clear)

  1. I love slashdot. by localman57 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is why I come to slashdot! A technical article with the right units! 5 GW of electricity. Not 100,000 volts of electricity, not 50,000 Amps of electricity, but 5 GW. Now, that's useful!

    1. Re:I love slashdot. by localman57 · · Score: 5, Informative

      When I was an intern (1996) I worked in the power-forecasting department of a municipal power company. We used to estimate 4kW peak average per house, worst case. Obviously, every house occasionally pulls more, big houses pull more than small houses, etc, but at about 5pm on the hottest day of the summer, we could count on having a power usage of approximately 4kW * number of houses. So, roughly 1.25 million houses.

      Not sure if it'd be more or less now. Houses and HVAC are more efficient, but people tend to use more power when they're active now.

  2. Shocking times we live in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if there is a difference in the potential of this technology and other high throughput power transferring systems. I think being able to distribute power has the capacity to put us on the road to using more electricity as opposed to oil based fuel. That's all we've needed: a kick in the joules to get us on a better path.

    Shocking times indeed. I just need to remember to stay grounded; You can never know exactly when and where technological progress will come from.

  3. A lot of power by siliconwafer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Each leg of the triangle can carry 5GW of electricity.

    5GW is a lot of power; to put that into perspective, the entire state of New York uses about 30GW at peak load on a hot summer day; the great power of Niagara Falls gives us about 5GW (Canadian + US generators).

  4. Re:Four words: by Deosyne · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh no, they've disabled our ability to sell electricity from one grid to another!

  5. Re:Four words: by belthize · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Meh, why is that getting flagged as insightful.

    The current cynicism that any improvement in infrastructure is
    a) only for the money
    b) going to ruin the planet
    c) a target for terrorists
    d) too late

    is getting really old.

    The proposal allows for better distribution of power generation across the continent. Even if it was a target for terrorism so what. If you want to curl up in a little ball because the terrorists might get you knock yourself out.

    BTW, knocking this section out doesn't take all 3 grids down.

  6. Re:Modify the phase variance by physburn · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yes, Its AC->DC->AC. SuperConducting Cable always run DC. If you run alternating current through a superconductor, you'll get resistance (actually impendence) again.

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    SuperConductor Feed @ Feed Distiller