> Electrical signal attenuation increases with the square of the distance

not true. in standard HV-AC lines, power losses are ~10% per megameter. HVDC gets to 3-5%. So Nevada to Seattle would be at most 20% loss, and in practice 15%, and with HVDC closer to 7%.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/sites/default/files/documents/1...

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AnotherGoodName 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I think the op must have been confused by the inverse square law for omnidirectional wireless transmission.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law

This is where you picture an expanding wireless sphere of transmission from a point source and since the surface area of this sphere grows by the square of the distance you get this "power attenuates by the square of the distance" rule.

This of course doesn't apply to power over a 2D cable.

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kulahan 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I have no dog in this fight, but this is so impressive it sounds wrong. I don’t think it is wrong, I’m just really blown away

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yndoendo 3 days ago | parent [-]

"Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet" by Varun Sivaram [0] is a good source on ways to improve renewable energy from infrastructure design changes. He talks about the HVDC longitude runs that would improve transfer of electricity to areas that may be cloudy where it is sunny during peak.

My point of view with Tesla vs Edison is that they were both right and wrong under select circumstances.

[0] https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262537070/taming-the-sun/

	▲	kulahan 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks, I’m looking forward to digging into this!