And while we are at it why not put the elements of the grid underground and get rid of those ugly towers.  The current loss of AC is massive and DC can go a long way and be converted to AC, if required, locally. We also have the potential for massive solar, wind, geothermal and solar concentrator without burning an ounce of coal.

The Coalition are looking pretty silly with their slavish love of coal as China, now India and most recently the US has announced a shift to renewables.

President Biden's first conversation with our Prime Minister was about climate change and the EU has already signalled that countries who don't meet the Paris targets will have tariffs applied to their exports and like China, may not even let Australian export laden ships berth in their ports.

As we have all experienced in the digital age, change happens quickly, and we are looking stupid.

It looks like I might have been mistaken about the DC and AC losses as AC loses less, but still a substantial amount, than DC unless you have a very large, in diameter, cable.

With the move to renewables though the generation becomes more distributed and local so it implies a rethink of the grid too.  There are now a number of solutions to individual residential and commercial solar not using the output of panels.  The obvious one is to pair with your own battery. Another is companies like Reposit aggregate solar to the grid and send it where it is needed by others using their platform.

Where there is a need ....