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It is needed in summer to replace solar energy during the night. Gas power plants can be switched on and off almost at will, unlike coal or nuclear plants that
by jansan 4y ago
It is needed in summer to replace solar energy during the night. Gas power plants can be switched on and off almost at will, unlike coal or nuclear plants that have long startup and shutdown times. So the gas power plants are switched on at night in summer when the sun doesn't shine.
Also, the EU commission declared in February 2022 natural gas as a sustainable energy source, and the EU parliament confirmed this in July 2022. Sounds a bit bizarre, but the dates are correct.
- Rygian 4y agoSo nuclear was replaced by renewables+gas (EU newspeak not withstanding).
- hedora 4y agoSome modern nuclear plants can be turned on and off at will. The reactor itself takes a long time to ramp up and down, but it heats a molten salt battery. The battery can burst-power the turbines at well-above the reactor output; they can be sized to handle peak demand + overnight loads.
- calaphos 4y agoEven if technically possible the economics of nuclear power plants don't favour only using them for peak loads. With gigantic initial captial investment and very low fuel costs (almost?) all nuclear power plants are used for base loads. It's hard to find current numbers, but capital investment for combined cycle natural gas plants seems to be about a tenth of modern reactor projects in western countries.
- hedora 4y agoWe have no real choice. Natural gas has to be phased out as soon as possible. The plant designs I’m describing are new, but marching to commercialization. They are not in wide-scale production yet. They are optimized for a world where solar and wind have taken over most of the production.