Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by qwedf 1515 days ago
The latest Doomberg does a great job in pointing out the practical flaws.

https://doomberg.substack.com/p/20000-volts-under-the-sea

"The Xlinks project is a pretty good concept, and yet…it needs access to materials already claimed by many others at prices increasing by the day, it needs to build an entire HVDC industry in Britain from the ground up, and it needs money, lots of it."

3 comments

> it needs to build an entire HVDC industry in Britain from the ground up

Britain already has several HVDC undersea interconnectors with Europe. These are maintained and there is design and construction capability. If not in Britain, then nearby.

1. https://www.northsealink.com/

2. https://www.ifa1interconnector.com/

3. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-policy-and-regulation/policy... (Scroll down for electricity.)

For the battery storage, perhaps they will ultimately choose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery. The cable manufacture seems like more a 'when' rather than an 'if' problem. The scheduled first phase of construction is 2025-2027, which we can reasonably expect to be delayed by 2-3 years if they are trying to build new manufacturing capability. Overall this still looks to be in the realms of possible/viable IMO.
How much?