MSimon wrote:Why build pumped storage (sites are hard to find) if BFRs are cheap enough?
Well, they do provide a nice lake for boating and waterskiing.
I don't know why the power companies don't team with developers to increase the amount of lakefront property. You've got the coasts of all the great lakes to work with. Canada has all that electricity from hydro-quebec. They just need a way to buy off the watermelons (green on outside, red on inside).
TallDave wrote:Now, if I just had more practical experience in FORTH. Read the book, played around a bit, can see how its very powerful and well suited to this kind of thing, but I still think in 4GL because that's what I usually program in. OTOH, I'm only 33, so my brain is only 33% full.
I started in on FORTH when I was about 38. Of course I had the advantage of being an assembly language programmer.
BTW FORTH is a 4GL. (the name is a contraction of fourth - i.e. fourth generation language). It was the first object oriented language and the objects are of a much simpler construction than other languages. You have the object (at a given start address), you have the code that operates on the object.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Superconducting magnets are "costly" to throtle fast. It is still posible at say day and night / hourly operations.
We have energy markets here too, you'll sell energy productions hours and price come from market. That kvantitave production level and many BFR give good energy regulation. Magnets field change is ^4 so minor change make big effect.
There is good reason to trust that biggest BFR run full time 100% power, because operation is so cheap, cheaper than wind or anything else. That maybe ruins coal etc. plants economy quite fast. Cartels are posible, but BFR plant seems to be so simple that cartels can't last long. Political things may limit plant numbers, but other countries don't put limits so cartel lose come that way anyway.
How about well depth trotling? electrons loss quite rapid so throtling eletron guns rapid change well depth and fusion power..?
Btw every people talk high voltage inverters. If there is some difficulties why don't do like 70 years ago before semiconductors are invented? I mean brush rings, commutator, capasitors and syncron motor. Drop down can do at same. Like 10caps and charge them 1MV, then divided and discharged to 100KV 50hz net. Or 400KV transformer etc..
Easy as soap making.
Btw2 somebody talk needed pre charge to 1MV grid. I see that charge grow rapid, every He2+ give Q, but if grid go over voltage He2+ don't reach it and grid reflects them and reflection consume Q.
I am sceptic to that every He have same energy, it is more likely that there is some distributions and lowest energy He should capture behind first grid, neutralize and pump out. So there should be vacuum line behind every grid that is more negative than grid so alfas hit it, neutralize and pump sucs them.
Alchemist wrote: ...
Back in the real world, we could build a buffer consisting of either large capacitors or large batteries (or large superconducting inductors when technology permits), whichever fits the discharge model best. Have the buffer large enough that it won't over-charge at minimum consumption.
The "buffer' of a large battery is now being build, one plug-in hybrid/EV at a time.
Before too long, the granularity of 100MW per plant may be fine enough with the massed capacity of the on-line batteries to completely eliminate the current frequency stabilization requirement which is the most time sensitive and high cost part of the power distro system.