[toomuchtodo]

Haven’t been through the Nullabor myself, but I can’t imagine it’s so treacherous that you can’t drag a few five inch HVDC conductors through it (which only need to be buried, no concrete channel or conduit required, to support ~2500MW of transmission capacity).

If I recall, that’s where the latest Mad Max film was filmed.

[9nGQluzmnq3M]

It's not that it can't be done, it's that the Nullarbor is 1,100 km of absolutely nothing. More broadly, it's ~3000 km from Perth to Adelaide, vs ~4000 km for the continental US.

Also, the last Mad Max was mostly filmed in Namibia. The older ones were filmed in Australia, notably Coober Pedy, which is north of Adelaide and not near the Nullarbor.

[grecy]

> Also, the last Mad Max was mostly filmed in Namibia. The older ones were filmed in Australia, notably Coober Pedy, which is north of Adelaide and not near the Nullarbor

The originals were filmed just outside Broken Hill actually. There is a sign on the highway way to Mildura, and there is a big lot where you can see some of the props from Number 3 (notably the plane). I grew up in Mildura.

Also, the latest was filmed in Messum Crater in Namibia, I spent some time exploring there too - (bottom half of this post/pictures) http://theroadchoseme.com/riverbeds-and-craters

[dwd]

The first film (pre-apocalypse) was actually filmed mostly in and around Melbourne. I grew up in Warrnambool and Horsham so any trip to Melbourne would take you through some of the filming locations along the old Western Hwy. The first film was really about 70s Australian car culture and filled with utes, panel vans and of course big V8s. More early Fast & Furious than the later dystopian theme.

You're correct about the second being up Broken Hill way.

[wisdomdata]

My meaning was that it is too far for a transmission line to make sense, and once the transmission line gets to South Australia (the state closest to Western Australia) you have only delivered the power to a state with the same problem - too much solar without enough storage. A better way to solve the problem would be to prohibit new installs of rooftop solar without an accompanying battery system.

This won't happen because it would be politically difficult, and because the power companies would lose a lot of money as consumption fell through the floor. They don't want too much battery for a while because this would require them to move from a usage model to a majority fixed fee billing. To reduce public outrage the changeover needs to be slow.

[paranoidrobot]

HVDC systems don't do too well in high temperatures. One thing the Nullabor has in spades is high temperatures.

Why would we go to all the expense to build a long distance HVDC link for that, anyway? WA's grid has very different capacity demands from the NEM grid for the east coast. The difference in populations (and energy needs) is huge.

Makes a ton more sense to invest in energy storage systems on each side than to dump tens of thousands of tons of copper in the ground to build a pointless link.