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> Low carbon energy generation is basically happening with or without nuclear. At this point, we're past the point where people need to study the cost of wind o
by Gareth321 4y ago
> Low carbon energy generation is basically happening with or without nuclear. At this point, we're past the point where people need to study the cost of wind or solar. They have proven much cheaper than anything else and they are being mass deployed all over the world as a result of that.
A lot of these calculations are based on straight line production cost against average power output. They often omit one of the most valuable aspects of nuclear: grid stability. Redundancy is expensive but EXTREMELY important. I see few papers accurately imputing this cost when they conclude that we should all switch to renewables immediately. Here in Europe we can have swings in wind power production in excess of 50% in the span of a day. This is ENORMOUS volatility, and requires some kind of stable power production to offset the slow wind days.
Grids need to be diversified. Solar, wind, tide, geothermal, hydro, and definitely nuclear. If not nuclear, we are stuck with coal and LNG for the foreseeable future.
- oezi 4y agoThis will just mean that even more renewables will be built up the point where it is economically feasible to store such energy in batteries, heat, hydrogen, synfuels etc. Yes, many of these processes are inefficient, but if you consider wind already being the cheapest mode of electricity generation then after another 50% price decline due to progress in technology we might have electricity for lots of inefficient storage mechanisms.
- Gareth321 4y agoStorage is of course the way to overcome grid volatility but so far there are few economical options. As I mentioned, few studies have been conducted on this volatility component and cost, but my understanding is that current storage options are uneconomical relative to nuclear, and especially relative to coal and LNG. Hydro storage is ~70% efficient but it's obviously only feasible in mountainous regions. It's actually cheaper to significantly overshoot renewable capacity to compensate for slow days, but if we're now building 2-3x peak capacity then the cost equation shifts considerably.