power lines, page-17

Jukes, I have to say my thought process was based on sub-zero superconductors that were more 'proven', rather than non-cooled. As you say desert termperatures are a non-lab type environment :-)

Yes you would have to have periodic sources of cold liquid gas along the way, but what better source of power for the cooling splitters than a power line !!

And while I understand Gerry Grove-White's reaction to your question, the driver behind going this path is not really loss factors, but the scalability. One SC line has the potential for 10 to 50 times the amp capacity of one 500MW conventional AC line. Having said that, a large DC line is then just a factor of the cross section of metal, so scalable as well...

I'm trying to poke more into superconductors (others might try too) and will post any decent links I find. I have to dig out my old Uni EE course notes and blow the dust off :)