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Sad to see Germany continue to shut down Nuclear while having to greatly expand coal usage because their wind farms significantly under produce due to unexpecte

Sad to see Germany continue to shut down Nuclear while having to greatly expand coal usage because their wind farms significantly under produce due to unexpected weather patterns. (As much as +40% coal generation in the past two years, and -20% wind) https://www.ans.org/news/article-3274/germany-coal-tops-wind-energy-in-2021-but-theres-more-to-the-story/ https://www.ans.org/news/article-3274/germany-coal-tops-wind... https://energypost.eu/germany-2021-coal-generation-is-rising-but-the-switch-to-gas-should-continue/ https://energypost.eu/germany-2021-coal-generation-is-rising... And they're replacing it with... gas! Great, another carbon based fuel that is dramatically inferior to Nuclear in energy density, environment impact, and national security.

cinntaile 5y ago
They're not replacing nuclear with gas. Nuclear has a steady output, gas will be variable output. It will run when deemed necessary.
- hardlianotion 5y ago
  What they going to replace that baseload with? Or do they not need that baseload any more (seems unlikely).
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    They'll replace it with renewables and energy storage solutions. Not instantly of course, but they'll keep building out capacity. There are also interconnections to other countries that can serve as help when needed. These developments makes pure baseload technologies less economical since you need something that can adapt to the inherent variability.
- Jyaif 5y ago
  ...which will be 24/7 for a number of those gas power plants, to replace the steady output of nuclear.
- _dain_ 5y ago
  this is sophistry. "necessary" means sufficient to cover the shortfall from the lack of nuclear baseload. the effect of shutting down nuke plants will be to burn more gas, there is no way to dispute this.
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    Gas and nuclear don't fulfill the same purpose. It's not like they'll stop building out solar and wind and storage solutions. If your energy system depends on renewables and there is not enough storage (or other geographical interconnected solutions) then you'll need something like gas to quickly spin up and down if the demand requires it. Maybe new nuclear plants will be able to do this too, but right now they can't match gas.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

cinntaile 5y ago

They're not replacing nuclear with gas. Nuclear has a steady output, gas will be variable output. It will run when deemed necessary.

hardlianotion 5y ago
What they going to replace that baseload with? Or do they not need that baseload any more (seems unlikely).
- cinntaile 5y ago
  They'll replace it with renewables and energy storage solutions. Not instantly of course, but they'll keep building out capacity. There are also interconnections to other countries that can serve as help when needed. These developments makes pure baseload technologies less economical since you need something that can adapt to the inherent variability.
Jyaif 5y ago
...which will be 24/7 for a number of those gas power plants, to replace the steady output of nuclear.
_dain_ 5y ago
this is sophistry. "necessary" means sufficient to cover the shortfall from the lack of nuclear baseload. the effect of shutting down nuke plants will be to burn more gas, there is no way to dispute this.
- cinntaile 5y ago
  Gas and nuclear don't fulfill the same purpose. It's not like they'll stop building out solar and wind and storage solutions. If your energy system depends on renewables and there is not enough storage (or other geographical interconnected solutions) then you'll need something like gas to quickly spin up and down if the demand requires it. Maybe new nuclear plants will be able to do this too, but right now they can't match gas.
deleted 5y ago
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