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China aims to build 450 GW of solar, wind power on Gobi desert

36 points by orangebanana1 5y ago

fallingfrog 5y ago
Fantastic news. We should be doing this in the southwest. I do think we need to come up with a better system for stabilizing the power supply on cloudy days than just having coal plants running in the background, though. Some kind of very cheap batteries with very long lifetime. Weight is not important.
- survirtual 5y ago
  Come up with? This has been a solved issue since the discovery of U-235 emitting 4 neutrons when struck with a single neutron, an absolute dream to the physicists theory crafting about unknown materials with only a 1 neutron generating 2 neutron scenario. A little under 100 years ago now. Nuclear energy is and always will be the solution. It was 100 years ago, when the physics understood it. It was 80 years ago, when the devastation of nuclear bombs were understood. It was 30 years ago when Gen III+ reactors were proposed and began building, with passive safety features. And it is today, when in the midst of climate oblivion, people are still rolling around debating base-load energy sources that physicists 100 years ago solved. In regards to cost overruns and politics? You’d think we’d figure it out in the face of destruction. Optimize every aspect of it. A neutron reaction will always have orders of magnitude higher energy than photons on a solar panel. End of the day, we either use physics to our advantage or get gobbled up by it.
  - ZetaZero 5y ago
    Nuclear is not ideal for a peaker plant. It works best running at 100%, as part of the base load. So it doesn't help to fill in for solar during cloudy times.
  - fallingfrog 5y ago
    I feel like this is a more complex situation than you're making it out to be.
- pydry 5y ago
  China just finished a 3.6GW pumped storage "battery" in Fengning - delivering more power than most nuclear plants.
opo 5y ago
China is also planning on building about 228 nuclear plants to provide 250 GW of power. It looks like they are very serious about de-carbonizing their grid. https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/power/weekly-data-chinas-nuclear-pipeline-as-big-as-the-rest-of-the-worlds-combined https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/power/weekly-data-china...

36 points by orangebanana1 5y ago

Fantastic news. We should be doing this in the southwest. I do think we need to come up with a better system for stabilizing the power supply on cloudy days than just having coal plants running in the background, though. Some kind of very cheap batteries with very long lifetime. Weight is not important.

survirtual 5y ago
Come up with? This has been a solved issue since the discovery of U-235 emitting 4 neutrons when struck with a single neutron, an absolute dream to the physicists theory crafting about unknown materials with only a 1 neutron generating 2 neutron scenario. A little under 100 years ago now. Nuclear energy is and always will be the solution. It was 100 years ago, when the physics understood it. It was 80 years ago, when the devastation of nuclear bombs were understood. It was 30 years ago when Gen III+ reactors were proposed and began building, with passive safety features. And it is today, when in the midst of climate oblivion, people are still rolling around debating base-load energy sources that physicists 100 years ago solved. In regards to cost overruns and politics? You’d think we’d figure it out in the face of destruction. Optimize every aspect of it. A neutron reaction will always have orders of magnitude higher energy than photons on a solar panel. End of the day, we either use physics to our advantage or get gobbled up by it.
- ZetaZero 5y ago
  Nuclear is not ideal for a peaker plant. It works best running at 100%, as part of the base load. So it doesn't help to fill in for solar during cloudy times.
- fallingfrog 5y ago
  I feel like this is a more complex situation than you're making it out to be.
pydry 5y ago
China just finished a 3.6GW pumped storage "battery" in Fengning - delivering more power than most nuclear plants.

opo 5y ago

China is also planning on building about 228 nuclear plants to provide 250 GW of power. It looks like they are very serious about de-carbonizing their grid. https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/power/weekly-data-chinas-nuclear-pipeline-as-big-as-the-rest-of-the-worlds-combined https://www.energymonitor.ai/sectors/power/weekly-data-china...