THE VIDEO SHELF · solar energy transmission
The Problem with Solar Energy in Africa
Real Engineering looks at why Africa's abundant solar potential is hard to turn into usable power, especially for Europe. It covers the transmission, infrastructure and economic obstacles, and the pivot from concentrated solar to photovoltaics.
Why HN readers recommended it
Linked whenever commenters ask whether Sahara solar could power Europe, as a clear explanation of why it is impractical.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Real Engineering
- Topic
- solar energy transmission
- Format
- explainer
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 4
- HN mentions in dataset
- 10
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2021–2024
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
Here's a great video from Real Engineering [0] that goes into the pros and problems with that approach, and where and how it is currently being tried. For example, via undersea transmission cable under the Strait of Gibraltar. [0] [VIDEO]
datameta on Hacker News · 2021-11
In Colorado 'solar garden' is a farm under solar panels> why there's so much interest in nuclear when low-tech concentrated solar in the desert can get the job done and scaling it up (and ensuring it's 100% safe) isn't a matter of R&D but just basic manufacturing. Solar is dependent on the time of …
Sebb767 on Hacker News · 2022-04
In ThorCon: Cheap, reliable, CO2-free electric power> we learned in geography class, that one could power the whole EU, if we occupied some area of the Sahara desert with solar panels I sometimes hear that too. The YouTube channel "Real Engineering" did a video about the idea: [1] The TLDR is: …
Taikonerd on Hacker News · 2022-06
In One-night stands will be illegal at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.