The German Power-Line Talk

Imagine your local power company came up and said they had tons of power from one part of the state or region.....likely in excess....which could be used in another part of the state or region, but the grid wasn't made to move this amount of power.

So, they'd talk to you over building one enormous tower-line system across five hundred miles.  You might think it wise, but then you'd ask....whose property will you build this line upon?  Then the discussion would get quiet.

Well....in Germany....for decades now....they've been building wind-powered generators for electricity.  They'd got them all over Germany....but a more significant number are in the far north....near the sea.

Naturally, the wind up in the north part of Germany blows almost daily, and there's reported to be plenty of excess electricity.  With nuke plants on the shut-down list.....the power guys have sat down and developed this idea.  Build a transmission line from the extreme north of Germany.....to the heart of Bavaria.  Eight hundred kilometers long.

It'd have to be approved by several German states (because of the amount of legal troubles involved), and no is saying that it's guaranteed at this point.

Are there outside influences going on?  Well....if you operated nuke plants in France, Poland, or Russia.....you wouldn't want this coming along to interfere with energy sales in the future when the nuke plants are shut down.  Germans have asked questions and kinda grasp that without the nuke plants.....there's likely to be some type of shortage....maybe minor....maybe bigger than they'd like to accept.  Who'd sell this power?  Their neighbors....who all kept the nuke power concept.

Germans have a series of law to protect private property and personal ownership.  From the Basic Law list of features....there's article fourteen which says that the government can take your property, with a just pay-off.....for necessary projects.

You can imagine some folks sitting there now....gazing at the map and realizing that in their county or region.....there's likely three hundred farms which will be affected.  The amount of a "grab"?  It's hard to say.  A tower might only consume 100 feet by 100 feet.  Some farmers might not have a big fit over two patches taken and three thousand Euro put on the table for each patch.  Course, that big issue of cattle being under such lines and static electricity passing into a nearby house or barn....might come up.

There's lots of little issues with this closing of nuke plants tied into the future.  Rarely do journalists sit down and crunch the numbers and ask logical business and accounting questions.  If consumption continues at the same trend.....how much is needed in fifty years?  If you don't use nuke power....where does all this power come from?