4 ms·

Not at all. There will always be places where solar+battery isn't viable. Northern Canada and Alaska come to mind.

by Teever 4y ago

eftychis 4y ago
Also we are talking about totally different load over time characteristics. And we don't want time plus weather to dictate our industrial and shipping power needs. Solar is great but not simply alone. (Latitude is less of an issue as (proper) power systems are interconnected markets that sell/buy excess load.)
Digital28 4y ago
Don't forget that we're perpetually one temper tantrum away from nuclear winter now, which would cripple all solar infrastructure for years. I'm actually a little surprised the DoD hasn't deeply invested in fusion for this reason alone.
adventured 4y ago
Along with small and or very high population density nations. India is going to end up with perhaps two billion people and will have extraordinary population density/spacing problems. They're going to desperately need huge numbers of nuclear fission power plants or fusion plants to provide for that. They will not have the space for epic scale solar farms. Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands (among others) are in the same space vs population situation. And given the population explosion across parts of the Middle East and Africa, it's a certainty nations in those regions will have the same problem as well.
- ClumsyPilot 4y ago
  > They will not have the space for epic scale solar farms. ...space vs population situation. Your math is totally wrong, space was never an issie for solar. It tales 100x less space for a coutry to cover it's power needs with solar, than it does for a country to grow it's own food and feed it's own people. So every country thats not a city-state, like Vatikan, is fine. All the challaneges of Solar are around intermittency, cost and ofcourse it's less viable in northern lattitudes. But none of them are around space.
Kon5ole 4y ago
There are solar panels in use on svalbard island, Norway. Far north of Alaska Solar needs more space in such locations but space is abundant and also nobody lives there so you dont need much power anyway. The sun shines 24 hrs a day during summer, so you can generate lots of hydrogen for use during winter.
pfdietz 4y ago
Those markets are far too small to support a nuclear industry. If solar dominates and those places are hurting for energy, the rest of the world will shrug and tell them to deal with it as best they can.

Not at all. There will always be places where solar+battery isn't viable. Northern Canada and Alaska come to mind.

by Teever 4y ago

Not at all. There will always be places where solar+battery isn't viable. Northern Canada and Alaska come to mind.

Also we are talking about totally different load over time characteristics. And we don't want time plus weather to dictate our industrial and shipping power needs. Solar is great but not simply alone. (Latitude is less of an issue as (proper) power systems are interconnected markets that sell/buy excess load.)

Digital28 4y ago

Don't forget that we're perpetually one temper tantrum away from nuclear winter now, which would cripple all solar infrastructure for years. I'm actually a little surprised the DoD hasn't deeply invested in fusion for this reason alone.

adventured 4y ago

Along with small and or very high population density nations. India is going to end up with perhaps two billion people and will have extraordinary population density/spacing problems. They're going to desperately need huge numbers of nuclear fission power plants or fusion plants to provide for that. They will not have the space for epic scale solar farms. Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands (among others) are in the same space vs population situation. And given the population explosion across parts of the Middle East and Africa, it's a certainty nations in those regions will have the same problem as well.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> They will not have the space for epic scale solar farms. ...space vs population situation. Your math is totally wrong, space was never an issie for solar. It tales 100x less space for a coutry to cover it's power needs with solar, than it does for a country to grow it's own food and feed it's own people. So every country thats not a city-state, like Vatikan, is fine. All the challaneges of Solar are around intermittency, cost and ofcourse it's less viable in northern lattitudes. But none of them are around space.

Kon5ole 4y ago

There are solar panels in use on svalbard island, Norway. Far north of Alaska Solar needs more space in such locations but space is abundant and also nobody lives there so you dont need much power anyway. The sun shines 24 hrs a day during summer, so you can generate lots of hydrogen for use during winter.

pfdietz 4y ago

Those markets are far too small to support a nuclear industry. If solar dominates and those places are hurting for energy, the rest of the world will shrug and tell them to deal with it as best they can.