This is pretty outdated.. HVDC has solved most of the transmission problem. Even the typical "3.5% per 1,000km" assumption that shows up on Wikipedia is pretty out of date. Modern projects are built with much lower losses (since they're running much higher voltage) and central Australia with massive solar potential is no more than 2,000KM from anywhere else in the country so generation transmission losses would be more like 5% total...
Even if losses were something absurd like 15%, I don't see how that would meaningfully change the numbers. Location offsetting sunlight seems like a huge win.
Indeed. Solar is so cheap (and the price keeps falling) needing to build an extra 15% bigger solar farms is a total non-issue. By the time some projects go from planning to ground-breaking that extra 15% might be free due to costs plummeting.
