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> "300 megawatts (MW) of electricity ... is enough energy to power 300,000 homes for one year." This statement reflects the quality of the article. There is n
by ncmncm 5y ago
> "300 megawatts (MW) of electricity ... is enough energy to power 300,000 homes for one year."
This statement reflects the quality of the article.
There is nothing very interesting about SMRs. They are much more expensive than equivalent renewables, so they will only be built by coercion of ratepayers who would be better served by the alternative.
- sofixa 5y ago> They are much more expensive than equivalent renewables, This statement reflects the quality of the comment. Renewables need significant storage to be directly comparable, cost-wise, to nuclear. There are no currently existing grid level storage solutions, same as SMRs, and both are invested in. And you're missing a huge part of the equation - we're talking about Canada, the northern cold parts. Which renewables would run there ( maybe wind?) and which storage solution could be viable to withstand the cold and storms and what not?
- ncmncm 5y agoSignicant storage is cheap and getting cheaper, much faster than wind or solar ever did. By the time we have built out enough renewables to benefit from storage, storage will be cheap enough to hardly notice.
- dsomers 5y agoHi, I’m curious, can you tell me about the most promising storage technology being rolled out now?
- omegabravo 5y agopumped hydro, depending on geography
- ncmncm 5y agoCanada has plenty of mountains to support conventional pumped hydro. There are a lot of interesting variations on pumped hydro that do not depend so much on geography. Undersea variations are most interesting. Wikipedia explains some of them. Undersea compressed air is also interesting: a bag anchored to the sea bed is inflated with air. Advantage is it needs no mechanical or electrical apparatus underwater. Similarly, a float attached to a pulley anchored to the seabed, attached to an electric winch onshore, or on the side of a wind turbine post. There are the usual rapidly improving battery chemistries, prominently iron-air batteries, with utility-scale factories already under construction, to deliver in 2023, with plenty of time to spare.
- kevincox 5y agoIf we end of building a few of these as planned I'm sure they will get significantly cheeper as well.