{"id":1770,"date":"2026-10-27T15:27:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2026-10-27T15:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:27:43","slug":"spritty-spritty-lesson-about-power-transmission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/?p=1770","title":{"rendered":"Spritty spritty lesson about power transmission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reint Jelger (about power transmission cables): So you are saying with 525kV there is less line loss<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gemini: <strong>Yes, exactly.<\/strong> Counterintuitively, the higher the voltage, the lower the loss over long distances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This comes down to a fundamental law of electrical physics (P=I2R).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When electricity flows through a metal conductor (like copper or aluminum), the electrical current encounters natural resistance (R). That resistance converts part of the electrical energy into waste heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The formula for power loss (Ploss\u200b) in a conductor is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ploss\u200b=I2\u22c5R<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I = Current (Amperes \/ Amps)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>R = Resistance of the cable (Ohms)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notice that current (I) is <strong>squared<\/strong>. If you double the current running through a cable, you don&#8217;t double the heat loss\u2014you multiply it by <strong>4 times<\/strong>. If you increase current by 10 times, heat loss increases by <strong>100 times<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why 525 kV Changes the Game<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Total electrical power (P) being moved down the cable is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">P=V\u22c5I<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>V = Voltage (Volts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I = Current (Amps)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To move a massive amount of power across a continent (say, 1,000&nbsp;Megawatts from a North Sea wind farm to an industrial district):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Option A (Low Voltage, High Current):<\/strong> If you keep voltage low, you have to push a <strong>massive current (I)<\/strong> through the wire. Because of I2R, the cable gets extremely hot, melts its insulation, and loses a huge percentage of the electricity as heat before it reaches its destination.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Option B (High Voltage, Low Current &#8211; 525\u00a0kV):<\/strong> By stepping the voltage up to an extreme 525,000\u00a0Volts, you can move the exact same total power using a <strong>tiny current (I)<\/strong>. Because I is now very small, I2R heat loss drops dramatically.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>HVDC (Direct Current) vs. AC Over Long Distances<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 525&nbsp;kV, long-distance lines almost always use <strong>High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)<\/strong> rather than standard Alternating Current (AC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The AC Limitation:<\/strong> Alternating current continuously changes direction (50 times per second in Europe). Over long insulated cables (especially underwater), AC creates a heavy electromagnetic effect called <strong>capacitive charging loss<\/strong>, where the cable behaves like a giant capacitor and consumes its own power.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The HVDC Advantage:<\/strong> Direct current flows continuously in one direction. There is no capacitive loss, meaning power can be pushed over 1,000+ kilometers of continuous subsea or underground cable with line losses as low as <strong>3% to 4% per 1,000\u00a0km<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Industrial &amp; Business Takeaway<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This physical reality is why companies like <strong>Prysmian<\/strong> and <strong>Nexans<\/strong> command high profit margins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Insulation technology for 525\u00a0kV HVDC must withstand extreme electric field stress without breaking down.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Manufacturing a continuous conductor that can handle these stresses over hundreds of kilometers without a single structural flaw is a massive technical barrier to entry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reint Jelger (about power transmission cables): So you are saying with 525kV there is less line loss Gemini: Yes, exactly. Counterintuitively, the higher the voltage, the lower the loss over long distances. This comes down to a fundamental law of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/?p=1770\">Weiterlesen <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1771,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions\/1771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baarda.ch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}