Electricity has been shaped by two rival ideas that have taken turns defining our world. Alternating current, or AC, became the backbone of industrial civilization, while direct current, or DC, quietly survived in the background. The story of how AC first won, and how DC is now winning again, is … [continued]
So that’s HVDC and why the electricity you use will increasingly come through HVDC transmission. It gets more power delivered over longer distances, it’s increasingly economically viable, it works better underground, it works better underwater, it can dodge NIMBYs and it reduces the challenge of variable renewable generation. It’s one of the top innovations in the world of electricity, and it’s coming soon to a grid near you.
Since the days when we humans learned to use fire and developed six simple machines, we have progressed a lot in our ability to harness external sources of energy. In fact, we have defined and redefined its use. But what is energy? Scientists define it as “the ability to do … [continued]
Though the first flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS) were implemented in electric grids in the 1920s, the recent surge in renewable energy deployment has rapidly increased their demand. And according to a new report compiled by Navigant Research, utilities and grid operators are soon to be investing more than … [continued]
Finally. We are starting to get the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system we need to shift massive amounts of wind power from all those empty states where all the wind is, to all the full ones where all the people are. Green Car Congress reports that Siemens is starting to build the much-needed grid that it takes.
