HVDC: Wheeling lots of power: Moving power from where it is plentiful to where it is needed may be more efficient than building oil-fired or nuclear plants locally

It has been 31 years since the first commercial high-voltage, direct-current transmission line was built, but only today are HVDC lines coming into their own. Why the surge of interest in a technology that has been applied on a relatively limited scale for so long? The answer has as much to do with disenchantment with oil-fired and nuclear power plants as with the virtues of HVDC.