Just in case the Texas 4-nuke, 18 million square foot data center campus isn't big enough.
From OilPrice, June 26:
- Scientists propose a $117 trillion global wind-solar grid, arguing it could provide constant, clean power by connecting regions with surplus renewable energy to those in need.
- Theoretical benefits include energy abundance and reduced infrastructure needs.
- Political and economic hurdles make the idea highly impractical, with massive upfront costs, global coordination challenges, and geopolitical tensions making implementation unlikely.
The ongoing transition from baseload power generation to weather-dependent sources of electricity has proven quite challenging due to this dependence. Now, a team of scientists says the challenges are not insurmountable. We just need to build a globally interconnected system of wind and solar.
It sounds like a huge undertaking fraught with its own challenges, and indeed it is. For the time being, then, the idea is only theoretical, with the scientists claiming it would result in energy abundance for every part of the world, thanks to the planet’s huge wind and solar resources that we have yet to harness in an optimal way.
“Theoretically, the potential of solar and wind resources on Earth vastly surpasses human demand,” the team, comprising researchers from China, Denmark, and the United States, said. Yet the way we are currently using these resources is rather fragmentary and sub-optimal. A global interconnected system built on wind and solar as sources of electricity, on the other hand, would ensure a consistent supply everywhere, the paper argued. So, essentially, the researchers are proposing a sort of a real-life version of the centralized global governments from the world of science fiction. Instead of a government, however, it’s a centralized, coordinated global grid.
In the simplest terms, the central argument of the team comes down to the fact that there is always wind blowing somewhere in the world and, equally, somewhere it’s daytime and the sun is shining. With separate grids, neither the wind nor the sun can be made to work to their full potential. With a centralized grid, on the other hand, we can send wind-generated power half across national borders to where it is needed. The idea is basically a global version of what the UK is trying to do with its own grid, bringing wind power from Scotland to southern England where the demand is highest....
....MUCH MORE
