4 ms·
The technology to do load follow at a nuclear plant exists. If you think about it, "base load" has nothing to do with the power source. Given some period of ti
by necheffa 4y ago
The technology to do load follow at a nuclear plant exists.
If you think about it, "base load" has nothing to do with the power source. Given some period of time, say a day, you are always going to have a certain minimum demand for power generation in a geographic location. Congratulations, you have identified base load.
As the grid becomes more distributed and therefore less centralized, you are going to see base load hitting lower peaks because individual power generation stations will have less aggregate demand. But until society reaches a point where at least part of the day there is zero demand on the grid (fat chance) you will always have base load in some shape or form.
- logifail 4y ago> you are always going to have a certain minimum demand for power generation in a geographic location. Congratulations, you have identified base load. If it's - say - sunny and windy, your renewables are always going to undercut all other generators. So when they undercut nuclear, basic market forces should mean nuclear doesn't get to supply a single MW, and if that means investors lose out, well, tough. Base load should always be supplied by the cheapest supplier. Not the least flexible and/or the ones with the highest fixed costs.