High-voltage direct current (HVDC) has emerged as the preferred transmission technology for long-distance bulk power supply. Power-technology.com profiles the world's five longest operational power transmission lines. Rio Madeira transmission link, Brazil The Rio Madeira transmission link in Brazil, with an overhead length of 2,385km, is the world's longest power transmission line.
The Carbon Trust believes that offshore wind power has the potential to supply 25% of the UK's electricity by 2020. To help make this happen, the Carbon Trust launched the Offshore Wind Accelerator, a ground-breaking research and development initiative. From 2003 to 2009 some 350 offshore wind turbines have been built at the rate of one every 11 days. They currently deliver about 1GW, whereas about 29GW will be required to hit the EU's renewable target for 2020. To achieve this, a further 6,000 turbines must be built at the rate of one a day from 2010 to 2016, rising to 2.5 a day from 2017 to 2020. They will be bigger and more complicated to install, standing in up to 60m of water, in some cases more than 200km from shore.
With dwindling oil and gas reserves growing more valuable every year, blurred boundaries are ripe for dispute. We profile territorial tensions over oil hot spots, from open aggression emerging in the South China Sea to long-simmering tensions in the Falklands and the Arctic.