With the superconductors in the future, the AC voltage be obsolete?

Question

With superconductors in the future, will the alternating current "AC" be obsolete?

Jan Cumps · Accepted Answer

Do you mean that transmission lines will be made with superconductor wire, and that transformers will be replaced by DC:DC converters? I think no. The AC way is inherently cheaper to transport. And up till the foreseeable future cheaper to level-transform ...

michaelkellett · Answer

For long distance high power transmission DC over normal conductors is more efficient and ultimately cheaper than AC - despite the horrendous cost of the power converters. There's a long Wiki article about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current But superconductors won't replace AC for lower power (ie under 100MW) stuff any time soon because transformers are so relatively cheap and reliable and the losses aren't that bad. And anyway - we don't have useful normal temperature superconductors. MK

DAB · Answer

You will always need AC for long distance power transmission.

Now if you connect superconductors with a localized battery powered by wind an solar, you can greatly reduce the long distance power needs and make the overall power grid more robust.

DAB

With the superconductors in the future, the AC voltage be obsolete?

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