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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

Does solar ... work very well when sent over long distances?

Maybe that is a weird question but mostly I see regional sort of solar generation that seems to offset other local power usage, and not so much mass generation for large scale export.

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It costs a LOT of money to build high voltage transmission lines (AC or DC) to transfer power over long distances. So even if they turned the entire desert into a solar panel, the cost to ship that outside of the region would still be billions.

Sure, but maybe instead of building a indoors ski slopes in the middle of the desert, you invest that money into creating world class research institutes, create educational system and promote science.

Then maybe you would start inventing technologies that will push your country ahead. They could have created businesses based on solar tech and export it to the world.

Thats what China did, and it worked out miracles for them. Acquiring knowledge instead of buying ready solutions.

I'm not saying they can't do many things to improve (similar to many countries). All I was doing was answering a question to confirm that transmission lines are very expensive. They could use that cheap energy for certain kinds of manufacturing I suppose.

It all depend on electricity prices. There is a point where it is profitable regardless of the cost. As long as you can sell cheaper energy in a more expensive market.

The assumption is that they're not surrounded by countries willing to pay astronomical prices for electricity 24/7.

I don't know about distance, but I recently learned that they actually lose efficiency with extreme heat. [0]

[0] https://www.cedgreentech.com/article/how-does-heat-affect-so...

HVDC transmission losses are low, like 5% per 1000 km. So yes, a large, dispersed solar network could create and distribute electricity effectively.

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