Select to expand quote
Harrow said..Macroscien said..Lets assume that Snow2 link will cost us 10 bln approx.
divided by 250 km
that will be about $40,00 per meter !!
Lets take this as entry to national completion.
Any team within Australia could bid to build a tunnel underground at price starting $40,000 per meter, ( that will include some piece of copper line)
What is legal requirement for undergrounds cable?
Is 10 meters depth enough to void claims owners of the ground above?
What size internal diameter tunnel could be required for our HVDV line?
If 1 meter is enough? Lets assume that we use this same tunnel with future upgrades to 1 MV or even superconducting cable when time comes. so our tunnel once build will be future proof.
Expert advice will be needed to decide the depth, so we could minimize risk be accidental post hole augers perforating our tunnels

maybe 100 m depth could not much more costly once proper technology appear.
I could imagine multiple teams bidding for digging horizonal tunnels, designing and building machinery.
Access points could be created temporary every 1 km or so to the surface to remove dirt , supply materials and power.
Eeek, you want to put this cable of yours in a tunnel? Forget the 20 times cost factor, it's gonna be a heck of a lot more than that!!!
Unless you're going under a city CBD, you just direct bury it in trench about a meter deep. Where you're digging in suburban streets, install conduits so that it's easy to repair or replace in future without needing to dig up the road a second time.
What is this fascination with cables anyway? There are two places you'd want to use a cable for an EHV circuit.... to get into the middle of a city where you can't build an EHV transmission line, or using an undersea cable to cross a large body of water. Anywhere else is just pouring a lot of money down the drain unnecessarily.
Elon is building tunnels under cities for this reason.
If tunnel is so expensive to build it means that we are lacking the proper machinery and technology.
Matter of time only for somebody to come with solution,
English channel drilling rigs is not what we want.
We need automated earth worm like machine small diameter that will:
-chew on rock, material,
-remove it to surface\
-clad the walls of funnel ( cement>? Fiberglass? waste recycled plastic? )
If we think long term _ underground tunnels are the only way for Australia alone.
Hurricane, forest fires, etc.
Obviously we could wait for :
Elon tunneling company to come with solution- but he is after bigger diameter tunnel to accommodate his vehicles
-Chinese that need to span hype voltage lines across globe to rich all time zones, and tighten belts below roads
-POMs are smart to invent machinery, but never got funds and patience to build something
-we could fund our Universities students to come with design and sponsor builders to implement
I am guessing the equivalent of one only nuclear submarine should be enough to convince Perth steel workers to build earh worm machine.
-our mulita billionaires could also sponsor development , but they are rather interested in building tax heaven islands
( one exemption seems to be ambitious Forest, but I don't know much about him anyway)
can we scale this down?
Look, If you talk few years ago about batteries powering whole world,
business people will laugh on you loudly.
Now they all rushing with Trillions of dollars to build terawatts storage batteries.
But if we compare those two -
Battery vs Efficient transmission network (?)
there is only one winner !! hands down!!
battery don't produce anything, effect is still localized.
With efficient superconducting transmission network you don't need any storage and you could
use / utilize energy where now available anywhere in the world.
Anytime.
There is always sun shinning somewhere! There is always a wind blowing somewhere!
We are ( as a nation) going to miss- spend another billons on Hydrogen- generations, ports and transport ships.
Completely missed investment if solid transmission line to Japan could do the same more efficiently.
You are Harrow at right place, that have the greatest future! We just need to build that future smartly!