By my math, that means that each percentage point of gain over German greenfield solar will finance just a hair over 100 km of HVDC cable (assuming that German feed-in tariffs are remunerative for greenfield solar), even if you amortise the cable over ten years at 10 % and match your nameplate capacity W for W with cable capacity. If you finance at 7 % and amortise over 20 years instead you get over 350 km of cable per percentage point of capacity factor. And if you load balance at the source, so you economise on cable capacity, the numbers get even better.

By that math, cables from the Sahara to Germany (call it 3½ thousand km) would be justified at 7 %, 20 years loans if the capacity factor is more than ten percentage points better. Which it is. And any load-balancing you do on the Saharan side would be clear profit.

Is there a good reason this is not being done?

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.