HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

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Mart
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HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#1

Post by Mart »

Has this been mentioned, as it's complete new news to me?

I was reading an article about the speed of decarbonization, and the expansion of grids in China v's the EU:

China Will Electrify & Decarbonize Much Faster Than Europe Unless EU Puts Act In Action

It starts off:
This week I had the privilege of speaking in Brussels, steps from the European Parliament, among a group of speakers that included the Belgian energy minister and a member of European parliament, then participating in a panel discussion. The event was a launch of the second edition of Supergrid Super Solution: A Handbook for Energy Independence and a Europe Free from Fossil Fuels, available soon through all major book outlets.
But then as I was reading away, I found this:
I’m peripherally involved with the NATO-L project, a 3,600-kilometer 6 GW interconnector between Europe and North America, envisioned and being developed by Laurent Segalen, who was key to creating the Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions definitions, a cleantech investor, and host of the top ranked energy transition podcast, Redefining Energy.
That's news to me, so I've been off Googling and found this, which includes an explanatory vid (the cable is for RE transmission):

World’s ‘most ambitious’ subsea interconnector igniting zest for clean power superhubs: Embracing NATO-L to reinforce energy security bonds between America and Europe
Various geopolitical risks to energy security, the 2022 gas crunch in Europe, and the ensuing global energy crisis, entwined with scorching heatwaves engulfing the globe as climate change tightens its grip on energy policy, have spurred greater innovation in greening the electricity grid with subsea cables and interconnectors emerging as the go-to solution to link and interlink countries with clean power.

This trend seemingly resonates with proponents of the North Atlantic Transmission One–Link (NATO-L), which aims to deliver a 6 GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) set of subsea cables across the Atlantic to link North America and Western Europe, forging clean energy bonds between allied nations to ensure “a secure and cost-effective source of carbon-free power.”

With a cable length of 3,500 km or 2,200 miles, the North Atlantic Transmission One-Link is said to be “the most ambitious and beautiful infrastructure project in the world,” according to proponents, who claim this development will bring green electricity to connect North America to Western Europe via Eastern Canada and the UK and Ireland to foster energy independence.
Edit - Should have included this rather vague cost estimate:
Even though the current energy market dynamics and the uncertainty looming over the proposed NATO-L project make the final bill calculation challenging, the costs will likely surpass $25 billion and stay below $60 billion. This project has a long way to go and will most likely face several hurdles during its development road, thus, the proponents think that the short-term capital will probably not be deployed at this stage.

So ....... Iceland, Morocco and now Canada. Stranger things have happened, or should I ask, have stranger things happened?

Psst - Dan could get very busy trying to follow all of this. ;)
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Mart
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#2

Post by Mart »

Just to add, I've spotted this post from the Cleantechnica article comments section:

Q. Surely an HVDC cable from Europe to North America would only make sense if renewable generation in Europe and north Africa was maxed out, which will not happen anytime soon.

A. From Michael Barnard (article author) - Four times a day solar arbitrage by itself.

Then wind slumps on one continent or the other that are also statistically not aligned in terms of patterns.

Then years long hydroelectric lulls on one continent or the other. I did that my research myself to assist with thinking about the economics.

Our initial modeling is in with Ember now for a big work up. The price gap in one direction is excellent, and our hypothesis is that penetration of renewables will bring prices into greater alignment, which means excellent arbitrage periods.
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AE-NMidlands
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#3

Post by AE-NMidlands »

Wow! I hope they put lots of wiggles in it crossing the North Atlantic Rift! At least [this side of] Iceland is on the same bit of oceanic crust...
I would still worry about malevolent state bad actors though.
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dan_b
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#4

Post by dan_b »

This one is completely new to me Mart. I guess we've been stringing telecoms cables between Europe and N America for long enough now to know it's theoretically feasible. I suppose also if previously seemingly bonkers HVDC connections like the one to Iceland, and the Morocco X-Links project do end up coming about, then that means that even though the scale of this is on another level, it becomes more feasible?
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#5

Post by Mart »

Dan, it almost feels like the rule book has been ripped up and thrown out the window, this last decade. Nothing is impossible, and much of it might (OK just might) be economically viable.

Scary times, but exciting scary, like a rollercoaster.
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nowty
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#6

Post by nowty »

General HVDC video but it has a section on the cross atlantic project from 10:20 into the video.
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#7

Post by dan_b »

The longest HVDC transmission line at the moment is the 12GW 1100kV line in China, stretching some 2100 miles from Changji to Guquan.
None of that is sub-sea though. But shows what is currently state of the art as far as HVDC is concerned.

London to New York is a 3500 mile journey by plane. Although I guess going from the edge of Canada to Ireland is quite a bit shorter so would be of a similar distance to the Chinese link?
Last edited by dan_b on Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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nowty
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#8

Post by nowty »

dan_b wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2024 2:15 pm The longest HVDC transmission line at the moment is the 12GW 1100kV line in China, stretching some 2100 miles from Changji to Guquan.
None of that is sub-sea though. But shows what is currently state of the art as far as HVDC is concerned.

London to New York is a 3500 mile journey by plane.
That one is UHVDC.
https://www.hitachienergy.com/uk-ie/en/ ... uhvdc-link

18.7kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 26MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
dan_b
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Re: HVDC from N. America (Canada) to UK

#9

Post by dan_b »

1100kV is still high voltage! But yes it's got its own descriptor with "Ultra".

Bit like what's faster than Ludicrous speed? Plaid...
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