3 ms·
When you're comparing cost, are you comparing the total system? This means backup + grid + management of intermittence? Because comparing the cost of a solar
by edhelas 5y ago
When you're comparing cost, are you comparing the total system?
This means backup + grid + management of intermittence?
Because comparing the cost of a solar panel and a nuclear power-plant is like comparing apples and bananas if you actually want to power-up your computer 24/7.
- pydry 5y agoYes. Grid scale batteries and solar have plunged precipitously in price. While solar has bottomed out, batteries look to fall still further. Nuclear hasnt. It currently requires pretty lavish subsidies to be built on top of the ones they already had. (this is not true in the UK, but in the UK hornsea's lower intermittency + batteries will likely beat out hinkley point C on cost even though solar + batteries probably couldnt with the UK's weather)
- bryanlarsen 5y agoYes. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/electrify https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/electrify Nuclear is also pretty bad at 24/7 power. It produces steady power, but what we really need is dispatchable power, to match the peaks and valleys in demand. The intermittency of renewables can be solved with batteries or other storage. We only need about 3 hours of batteries, a little bit of overbuilding and a good grid to handle its intermittency.