[elihu]

I've been wondering for awhile about the economics of the AC vs DC grid thing. Historically, AC made a lot more sense because transformers are simple and relatively straightforward to make. But now we have amazing capabilities to handle enormous amounts of power with modern IGBTs and similar power-switching transistors. (A modern high-end EV motor controller, for instance, might be able to handle a megawatt of power. Not continuously, but still.) Is a DC-DC converter now more economically viable than an equivalent transformer? The former is more techincally complicated, but the latter is bulky and requires large quantities of expensive input materials like copper.

[bob1029]

A big problem with solid state electronics is fault current handling. The grid would become extremely brittle if it was purely a DC conversion setup. Semiconductors don't do too well outside their happy zone. All it takes is some wind and tree to fire up a very large arc welder. If you can't momentarily handle 10x+ the rated system capacity, you are gonna have a really bad time. Ordinary transformers in oil bath can take a hammering for many cycles. A semiconductor wouldn't make it through one.

[jschveibinz]

Still roughly 2x the cost and about 10x lower MTBF.

[nimish]

That seems like it's within striking distance of competitive, no? You get some major advantages in size and production automation. Perhaps it's ok for it to die sooner if you can get it built now and then replace it later.

[PunchyHamster]

well aside from being effectively 20 times more expensive over entire operation...

DC switches (as in, just a power switch) are vastly more expensive because while in AC you have 100 breaks in current a second, DC is constant so it is far harder to break. So even if you had device that could use both (not hard with SMPS, they have rectification as first step), it's still essentially " replace everything".

[VgsIndustries]

The protections side is a big problem - most HVDC has circuit breakers operating on the HVAC sides of the link so going to full DC transmission presumably wouldn't eliminate that equipment.

[elihu]

Or, alternatively, you switch to DC to get more current capacity over existing wires. (At a given voltage, a wire can generally carry more DC current because it doesn't have the same "skin effect" that AC has.) Even if the hardware at the substation is more expensive, it might be cheaper than upgrading the transmission lines.