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How about nuclear energy? Germany's decision to do without a few years back was overreaction to Fukushima. Renewables plus batteries great, nuclear is a good ba

How about nuclear energy? Germany's decision to do without a few years back was overreaction to Fukushima. Renewables plus batteries great, nuclear is a good base and fallback.

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Will never be cost competitive. Enough sunlight ("fusion at a distance") hits the Earth in 30 minutes to power humanity for a year. Batteries, solar, and wind will get cheaper while nuclear still can't be built cost effectively (if even at all, considering cost overruns and construction disfunction). HVDC transmission can be laid on ocean floors and buried underground to avoid natural disasters and NIMBY, you can push ~1-1.5GW over a pair of 5" HVDC conductors. Grid operators will balance variable supply with variable demand, and storage will grow as battery costs come down as manufacturing for battery cells scales up to meet EV demands.
- TremendousJudge 5y ago
  you really think it'll be cheaper to lay power cables under the atlantic ocean than build some nuclear plants to power the American continent during the night?
  - toomuchtodo 5y ago
    No, I think it'll be cheaper to use HVDC transmission and interconnects to network the largest electrical systems in the US [1] so that you can shift power across the continent. No need to run cables to Asia, Africa, or Europe. We already import clean hydro from Canada to parts of the US (specifically between Ontario and New York state). Also, as I mentioned, I expect the cost of battery storage to come down, to where it combined with renewables at ~1 cent/kwh is still cheaper than fossil fuels even assuming long duration discharge (8-10 hours). I can call Tesla today and have a Megapack installed in a few months. Same for solar and wind utility scale installs. If I break ground on a nuclear reactor today, it will be at least a decade before you see the first kilowatt generated. Georgia's Vogtle units 3 and 4 nuclear generators are six years behind schedule and costs have ballooned to almost $10 billion [2]. $10B buys a lot of renewables and batteries. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/NERC-map-en.svg/300px-NERC-map-en.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/NE... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogtle_Electric_Generating_Plant#Units_3_and_4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogtle_Electric_Generating_Pla...
    - TremendousJudge 5y ago
      Sorry, when I said "the American continent" I meant, like, the entire continent, where a billion people live and night time is all at the same time (so no solar). You're saying the solution is just batteries? Why did you mention power cables on the ocean floor?
      - toomuchtodo 5y ago
        > Why did you mention power cables on the ocean floor? "you really think it'll be cheaper to lay power cables under the atlantic ocean" -- TremendousJudge

How about nuclear energy? Germany's decision to do without a few years back was overreaction to Fukushima. Renewables plus batteries great, nuclear is a good base and fallback.

toomuchtodo 5y ago

Will never be cost competitive. Enough sunlight ("fusion at a distance") hits the Earth in 30 minutes to power humanity for a year. Batteries, solar, and wind will get cheaper while nuclear still can't be built cost effectively (if even at all, considering cost overruns and construction disfunction). HVDC transmission can be laid on ocean floors and buried underground to avoid natural disasters and NIMBY, you can push ~1-1.5GW over a pair of 5" HVDC conductors. Grid operators will balance variable supply with variable demand, and storage will grow as battery costs come down as manufacturing for battery cells scales up to meet EV demands.

TremendousJudge 5y ago
you really think it'll be cheaper to lay power cables under the atlantic ocean than build some nuclear plants to power the American continent during the night?
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  No, I think it'll be cheaper to use HVDC transmission and interconnects to network the largest electrical systems in the US [1] so that you can shift power across the continent. No need to run cables to Asia, Africa, or Europe. We already import clean hydro from Canada to parts of the US (specifically between Ontario and New York state). Also, as I mentioned, I expect the cost of battery storage to come down, to where it combined with renewables at ~1 cent/kwh is still cheaper than fossil fuels even assuming long duration discharge (8-10 hours). I can call Tesla today and have a Megapack installed in a few months. Same for solar and wind utility scale installs. If I break ground on a nuclear reactor today, it will be at least a decade before you see the first kilowatt generated. Georgia's Vogtle units 3 and 4 nuclear generators are six years behind schedule and costs have ballooned to almost $10 billion [2]. $10B buys a lot of renewables and batteries. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/NERC-map-en.svg/300px-NERC-map-en.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/NE... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogtle_Electric_Generating_Plant#Units_3_and_4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogtle_Electric_Generating_Pla...
  - TremendousJudge 5y ago
    Sorry, when I said "the American continent" I meant, like, the entire continent, where a billion people live and night time is all at the same time (so no solar). You're saying the solution is just batteries? Why did you mention power cables on the ocean floor?
    - toomuchtodo 5y ago
      > Why did you mention power cables on the ocean floor? "you really think it'll be cheaper to lay power cables under the atlantic ocean" -- TremendousJudge