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If there's too much power, it will be dirt cheap, and you'll charge your electric car then, which will maybe become affordable by then. Also with smart grid you

If there's too much power, it will be dirt cheap, and you'll charge your electric car then, which will maybe become affordable by then. Also with smart grid you'll regulate water heaters, ACs etc. Still better to have too much power than not enough... Especially if eg. Russia decides to close the gas pipe, or if americans decide to "bring democracy" to another middle eastern state and that disrupta oil delivery. We've sidetracked nuclear for decades now... The best time was decades ago, and the second vest time to build some new ones is now.

idiotsecant 5y ago
No, having too much power without storage is exactly as bad as not enough. That's how the physics works. It's a zero sum game or it's lights out for the grid. It takes a lot of smart people and simulations to do a semi decent job of walking that tightrope day after day after day. Overproduction is a huge problem, as evidenced by the frequent negative power pricing of CA solar
- standardUser 5y ago
  "No, having too much power without storage is exactly as bad as not enough." That makes no sense to me.
  - throwaway2037 5y ago
    I agree. The excess can be used to produce hydrogen gas (for heavy industry) from splitting water.
    - idiotsecant 5y ago
      if you have hydrogen splitters than you don't have excess power. You have as much load as you have power.
    - adrianN 5y ago
      If you have the infrastructure to produce hydrogen at scale you pretty much automatically have the infrastructure to store excess renewable production. That makes the "baseload!!" argument for nuclear moot.
hedora 5y ago
Electric cars are affordable now, assuming electricity is dirt cheap. Nissan Leaf: $17K after tax incentives, $27K before. Gas is $5/gallon. You can buy 5400/gallons for the price of an unsubsidized leaf. Assume a leaf-alike ICE car gets 40 miles per gallon. It will go 216K miles for the unsubsidized retail price of the leaf. Leaf batteries last at least 100K miles, and cost about $6K. The purchase cost of the ICE car, and 216K miles of motor oil, engine and exhaust work have to be under $6K ($12K if the leaf batteries need to be swapped twice) or the leaf is cheaper.

idiotsecant 5y ago

No, having too much power without storage is exactly as bad as not enough. That's how the physics works. It's a zero sum game or it's lights out for the grid. It takes a lot of smart people and simulations to do a semi decent job of walking that tightrope day after day after day. Overproduction is a huge problem, as evidenced by the frequent negative power pricing of CA solar

standardUser 5y ago
"No, having too much power without storage is exactly as bad as not enough." That makes no sense to me.
- throwaway2037 5y ago
  I agree. The excess can be used to produce hydrogen gas (for heavy industry) from splitting water.
  - idiotsecant 5y ago
    if you have hydrogen splitters than you don't have excess power. You have as much load as you have power.
  - adrianN 5y ago
    If you have the infrastructure to produce hydrogen at scale you pretty much automatically have the infrastructure to store excess renewable production. That makes the "baseload!!" argument for nuclear moot.

hedora 5y ago

Electric cars are affordable now, assuming electricity is dirt cheap. Nissan Leaf: $17K after tax incentives, $27K before. Gas is $5/gallon. You can buy 5400/gallons for the price of an unsubsidized leaf. Assume a leaf-alike ICE car gets 40 miles per gallon. It will go 216K miles for the unsubsidized retail price of the leaf. Leaf batteries last at least 100K miles, and cost about $6K. The purchase cost of the ICE car, and 216K miles of motor oil, engine and exhaust work have to be under $6K ($12K if the leaf batteries need to be swapped twice) or the leaf is cheaper.