Plugging High-Speed Rail Into Germany’s Power Grid

[kristopher]

Plugging High-Speed Rail Into Germany’s Power Grid

Using rail lines for the energy grid may help a suddenly nuclear-shy Germany transition to wider use of renewable sources.
By Michael Scott Moore

Germans, feeling the bite of necessity, have announced another use for their electrified rail network: It can carry green energy, too.

The German rail system has several thousand miles of high-voltage transmission lines that can be modified to broaden the national energy grid. And because of a seismic shift in German policy, the government has to find a quick solution to a daunting problem, namely how to move large amounts of renewable energy from one region to another. Wind turbines spin in the northeast, for example; but cities are growing in the south and west. The German grid would need around 2,240 miles of new high-voltage corridors to make renewable energy viable; about 60 miles have been built so far.

German officials last month said the government was eyeing train lines as a solution. “A close cooperation with Deutsche Bahn relating to the expansion of the power grid is something that I find attractive,” said Rainer Brüderle, the country’s economics minister, told journalists in April.

It might seem obvious to use rail corridors for high-voltage lines. But...

http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/plugging-high-speed-rail-into-germanys-power-grid-31304/

[marmar]

1. As the rest of the world continues to zip forward into the 21st century.........

We have troglodyte governors fighting improvements that would allow Amtrak trains to run at half the speed of the German ICE. Sigh.......

[kristopher]

2. We can hold out hope for the next election.

This is a great added benefit for developing high speed rail, I can't imagine it will not become a standard part of the cost/benefit calculation.