Abstract
AT the second World Power Conference held at Berlin in 1930, much consideration was given to international schemes for transmitting large amounts of power by high tension direct current. The most ambitious of these schemes was to transmit one million kilowatts from the western fiords of Norway at a pressure of 500 kilovolts across Sweden and Denmark to the industrial regions in Westphalia, Germany. The great advantage of utilising power from the western fiords is that a uniform output of power all the year round could be obtained. It was proposed that the line should pass through Göteborg and Copenhagen to Hamburg, small amounts of power being tapped off at the two former cities, but the great bulk being delivered to Hamburg for distribution in the German networks. In a paper read to the Institution of Electrical Engineers on January 18, H. Rissik discussed the engineering aspects of the problem. He pointed out that with the same overhead lines, much larger currents can be used with direct than with alternating currents and the difficulties of working are much less with the former than with the latter. On the other hand, the methods of converting alternating current into high voltage direct current are still in the experimental stage, at least when dealing with power in bulk, Lard Kolvin was a great advocate for the transmission of electric power by direct current, and although most of the difficulties in working with alternating current have been overcome since his time, it is interesting to notice that several engineers still think that direct current will be used for transmission in the future.
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Transmission of Power by High Tension Direct Current. Nature 133, 169–170 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133169d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133169d0