[epanchin]

In the UK, wind is primarily in Scotland away from most of the population - people don’t build where it’s windy.

So transmission of solar should be less, as the sun shines everywhere, and people like to build houses where it shines the most.

[epistasis]

Hopefully coal is not built close to the population either...

[DamonHD]

There is no coal-fired electricity generation in the UK now.

But no, neither coal nor nukes would be welcome in cities just to reduce transmission costs!

[rsynnott]

Not now, certainly. But back in the day... There are a number of disused coal power stations in big cities. The Tate Modern gallery in London is an old coal-fired power station, say.

[DamonHD]

We wouldn't site coal (or nuke) generation there now because (a) we can do long-distance low-loss transmission (in GB, transmission losses are ~2%, distribution losses ~5%), and because we know about the bad effects of the air pollution etc.

[rsynnott]

They knew to some extent about (b) when what's now the Tate Modern was built, but regulation was relatively weak until the 1950s, so there was nothing stopping them building it. _Knowing_ there's a problem is insufficient; making rules based on problems is required.

[DamonHD]

Agreed.