What the US needs for a clean power grid

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The US has vowed to have 100% renewable energy by 2035, at the moment its around 20% renewable with the other 80% being coal, petroleum, natural gas and nuclear which is also a clean alternative. The disadvantage with renewable energy is that the energy production is based on external factors, for example you can't produce wind power on a non windy day or solar power at night whereas with coal, oil and gas it's easy to store, transport and ready to be used at any time. 

The idea that prompted this blog was learning that China, which is known for its mega projects, has renewable farms the size of Singapore that are then brought to cities more efficiently than the US currently does with direct power currents. The China is an expansive country with many mega projects including plans for the largest dam in the world

120 nuclear power plants and others mega projects. The issue that arrises from this is that other than nuclear power clean energy in the form of renewables needs to be put where near the source then moved to cities, but moving energy results in large losses of that energy because alternating current lines bleed off energy, to solve this China has started using Direct current lines that don't have the skin effect where the majority of that energy stays on the outer parts of the line. 

The US would have similar issues in transporting power from their source to the cities as the location of the energy sources tends not to be in near population centers. The southern part of the US has an availability of solar power but that needs large areas of land unless it is placed on top of houses as shingles, if not then the US would need to build expansive solar power farms far from cities so that real estate is cheap. The midwest has wind power which produces more energy for the same amount of space and creates a cheaper energy source as “Solar panels cost roughly $2.19 per watt to install, while wind power costs around $1.50 per watt” this makes it a great renewable energy source and one of the cheapest. The northeast and northwest have hydro power which is more constrained by the environment as rivers are less common than windy fields, due to this to power these areas we need either a way to efficiently transport energy or to resort to Nuclear nearby. Nuclear power is one of the safest forms of energy but public scrutiny makes it difficult for cities to build large plants so the best option is to import energy from the midwest, high voltage alternating current (HVAC) lines can expect a 10-15% loss compared to direct currents(HVDC) 2-3% losses over the same distance so to revolutionize our power system in a way that it is profitable for consumer to use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels we need to follow in the footsteps of China which is the only country other than Brazil to have HVDC along side taking advantage of our natural resources on a scale large enough to power the country.