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Solar across ANY area has intermittency issues. It's not true for nuclear at all. The capacity factor of solar is 20-30, the capacity factor of nuclear is almos

Solar across ANY area has intermittency issues. It's not true for nuclear at all. The capacity factor of solar is 20-30, the capacity factor of nuclear is almost 100. They are not even in close competition. Wind and solar is currently less than 1% of the worlds energy and not expected to be more than 3-4% in 2040. There is no realistic version I know of (and believe me I have looked) where solar or wind become the base of societies energy needs. No one is talking about 100% nuclear. But currently nuclear already cover much more of our energy needs than wind and solar.

Retric 7y ago
Nuclear’s capacity factor is a problem because you can’t save money turning them off. If a Nuclear power plant can’t get 90+% utilization that’s a non starter it fails because it’s to expensive. On the other hand you can adjust the time of day a solar power plant gives power by moving it east or west and that 2c/kWh is after taking capacity factor into account. Nuclear’s problem actually gets worse when operating alongside solar and wind which are dramatically cheaper and drive the spot price close to 0 regularly. Meaning Nuclear is unneeded for long periods. Thus the long term trend is ~0% Nuclear power due to economic issues. As to photovoltaic capacity factor, nobody expects it to run at night that’s what batteries are for. The only meaningful capacity factor is the delta between average and minimum daily output vs seasonal demand. PS: Solar thermal on the other hand is simply a boondoggle waste of money.
- ThomPete 7y ago
  This is simply just factually wrong. Please show me one place that proves that high capacity factor is an issue. Just one. I am not sure where you are getting your information but it's simply factually wrong. Batteries can't solve this issue as it doesn't solve seasonality. And it would be extremely extremely huge batteries needed. The cost alone would make it impossible as peak demand only happens once in a while. And then you are back to backups.
  - Retric 7y ago
    It’s simple math, a Nuclear power plant that can produce power at 90% capacity factor at 10c/kWh can be used to produce power at a 45% capacity factor but at ~20c/kWh. In effect that high capacity factor is also a demand to maintain cost competitiveness. Granted, you can operate nuclear when the spot price is below your true cost to produce assuming it stays above your marginal price, but you now need to make up the difference. As to seasonality, demand is also seasonal, which again is bad for nuclear. Further, when sourcing wind you can locate it based on seasonal considerations. The high correlation between solar production and AC usage ends up being a useful feature not a bug.
    - ThomPete 7y ago
      Name me one country that have that problem with nuclear.
      - Retric 7y ago
        France, even with massive exports and imports it still needed to curtail nuclear production on the weekends which raised prices. Most countries are wise enough not to instal significant Nuclear for this very reason.
        ThomPete 7y ago
        France gets 75% of its energy from nuclear so no they don't have a problem. Low capacity factor is a problem not high capacity factor. Show me where it's recognized by a credible source that this is a problem.
        Retric 7y ago
        Err no, France has 71.7% (2018) Nuclear electricity production. https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf Away, from the IAEA which is very pro nuclear “Some Member States, such as France and Germany, have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation. Plants in those Member States have been designed or modified and have operated flexibly, and many reactor-years of experience and knowledge of flexible operation have been collected.” Page 18 adds a host of reasons why Nuclear is bad at load following. Page 25 shows just how low weekend loads get vs peak demand. Fig 13 on page 33 shows “Nuclear Load following” and that’s a direct quote. PS: Of note France also exports significantly more than it imports in part because they are so bad at load following. But even with that they still need curtailment of Nuclear power which is made worse by the large shifts in seasonal electricity demand.

Retric 7y ago

Nuclear’s capacity factor is a problem because you can’t save money turning them off. If a Nuclear power plant can’t get 90+% utilization that’s a non starter it fails because it’s to expensive. On the other hand you can adjust the time of day a solar power plant gives power by moving it east or west and that 2c/kWh is after taking capacity factor into account. Nuclear’s problem actually gets worse when operating alongside solar and wind which are dramatically cheaper and drive the spot price close to 0 regularly. Meaning Nuclear is unneeded for long periods. Thus the long term trend is ~0% Nuclear power due to economic issues. As to photovoltaic capacity factor, nobody expects it to run at night that’s what batteries are for. The only meaningful capacity factor is the delta between average and minimum daily output vs seasonal demand. PS: Solar thermal on the other hand is simply a boondoggle waste of money.

ThomPete 7y ago
This is simply just factually wrong. Please show me one place that proves that high capacity factor is an issue. Just one. I am not sure where you are getting your information but it's simply factually wrong. Batteries can't solve this issue as it doesn't solve seasonality. And it would be extremely extremely huge batteries needed. The cost alone would make it impossible as peak demand only happens once in a while. And then you are back to backups.
- Retric 7y ago
  It’s simple math, a Nuclear power plant that can produce power at 90% capacity factor at 10c/kWh can be used to produce power at a 45% capacity factor but at ~20c/kWh. In effect that high capacity factor is also a demand to maintain cost competitiveness. Granted, you can operate nuclear when the spot price is below your true cost to produce assuming it stays above your marginal price, but you now need to make up the difference. As to seasonality, demand is also seasonal, which again is bad for nuclear. Further, when sourcing wind you can locate it based on seasonal considerations. The high correlation between solar production and AC usage ends up being a useful feature not a bug.
  - ThomPete 7y ago
    Name me one country that have that problem with nuclear.
    - Retric 7y ago
      France, even with massive exports and imports it still needed to curtail nuclear production on the weekends which raised prices. Most countries are wise enough not to instal significant Nuclear for this very reason.
      - ThomPete 7y ago
        France gets 75% of its energy from nuclear so no they don't have a problem. Low capacity factor is a problem not high capacity factor. Show me where it's recognized by a credible source that this is a problem.
        Retric 7y ago
        Err no, France has 71.7% (2018) Nuclear electricity production. https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/P1756_web.pdf Away, from the IAEA which is very pro nuclear “Some Member States, such as France and Germany, have already needed to design or convert the majority of their nuclear power plants for flexible operation. Plants in those Member States have been designed or modified and have operated flexibly, and many reactor-years of experience and knowledge of flexible operation have been collected.” Page 18 adds a host of reasons why Nuclear is bad at load following. Page 25 shows just how low weekend loads get vs peak demand. Fig 13 on page 33 shows “Nuclear Load following” and that’s a direct quote. PS: Of note France also exports significantly more than it imports in part because they are so bad at load following. But even with that they still need curtailment of Nuclear power which is made worse by the large shifts in seasonal electricity demand.