If the problem with Solar power is that energy can’t be easily stored why don’t we build big power cables under the sea from areas where there is a lot of sun, ie around the equator, especially the Sahara. My thinking is that we have big communication cables connecting the U.K. and US, why could this not work for power?
My initial thoughts are bandwidth/ capacity issues and politics/geopolitics
In: Engineering
They do exist already:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NorNed – NorNed is a 580-kilometre long high-voltage direct current submarine power cable between Feda in Norway and the seaport of Eemshaven in the Netherlands. The NorNed cable is a bipolar HVDC link with a voltage of ±450 kV and a capacity of 700 MW
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basslink – The Basslink electricity interconnector is a 370 km 500 MW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable linking the electricity grids of the states of Victoria and Tasmania in Australia, crossing Bass Strait, connecting the Loy Yang Power Station, Victoria on the Australian mainland to the George Town substation in northern Tasmania.
Others are there and more are being developed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Submarine_power_cables and this is the longest one: 3800 km between Australia and Singapore – https://www.suncable.sg/
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