Originally Posted by
Capt Pit Bull
The issue is that AT THE SAME VOLTAGE you get less losses from DC than AC and thus in principle it is better for long distance transmission.
However, transmission at Higher Voltage is very strongly beneficial.
As AC is way easier to step up and down (voltage) then AC wins for general power transmission. However for very long distances the balance shifts back to DC.
I didn't consider the absence of reactive power and skin effect in the DC scheme. It's obvious now that I think about it.
I found it interesting that a refitted DC transmission circuit can carry approximately 40% more voltage than the AC transmission circuit it replaces. Since DC is a constant voltage, assuming the current remains the same it can be transmitted at the former peak AC voltage rather than the RMS voltage capacity of the conductor while in AC service. That had not occurred to me.
I didn't think of checking Wikipedia when I asked my dumb question.
