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1. nindokag (nindokag@refactorcamp.org)'s status on Monday, 11-Mar-2019 23:39:05 EDT nindokag

   https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/chinas-ambitious-plan-to-build-the-worlds-biggest-supergrid

   Neat article about the engineering challenges of getting terawatt-hours of energy from the world's largest wind and solar plants in Xinjiang to the population centers in east China that need it.

   One surprising detail: they use DC for long-distance power transmission! I always learned AC was used because it's less lossy over long distances. But I guess they figured out a way to do even less lossy transmission using DC in the megavolt range. #renewableEnergy #heyfeedfox

   1. Harry Pottash ✅ (harrypottash@refactorcamp.org)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2019 01:05:33 EDT Harry Pottash ✅

      in reply to

      @nindokag DC is more efficient by a little... mostly though it's about how high you get the voltage.

      ac is WAY easier to build voltage converters for. so this is one of the rare cases where you don't have many places drawing off the lines and it is a really long haul.