Superconducting power transmission was first implemented back in 2014 [1]. Some progress has been made since then [2].
I bet we'll eventually see more of that, with superconducting materials steadily becoming more pliable and affordable, and liquid nitrogen being pretty cheap. Maybe we'll see hundreds of miles of such lines. It looks to me more realistic than land in Western Europe becoming cheap enough to install a gigawatt of solar panels here and there.
I like superconductors, and I certainly hope they'll become viable, but "hundreds of miles" is a factor of at least 120 short of what's needed, and land for a GW of PV isn't that expensive even in western Europe, especially as PV can be present in pastureland at the same time as the animals.
I bet we'll eventually see more of that, with superconducting materials steadily becoming more pliable and affordable, and liquid nitrogen being pretty cheap. Maybe we'll see hundreds of miles of such lines. It looks to me more realistic than land in Western Europe becoming cheap enough to install a gigawatt of solar panels here and there.
[1]: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/182278-the-worlds-first-...
[2]: https://energycentral.com/news/shanghai-opens-world-leading-...