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>So I would expect to see countries with higher share of solar generation and less nuclear would have lower wholesale electricity prices than ones with less sol
by pydry 4y ago
>So I would expect to see countries with higher share of solar generation and less nuclear would have lower wholesale electricity prices than ones with less solar and more nuclear?
Not necessarily. Subsidies and taxes and debt throw everything out of whack as does every other form of power. You have to analyze on a more granular level than that to see the true picture.
Additionally, solar has only been the cheapest form of energy for about 6-7 years and it usually takes 10-15 years to transition away from existing energy to a new form.
In France specifically the plants were mostly built in the 70s and 80s at great expense and are paid off now but nearing EOL. Maintenance has also been neglected saving additional costs.
Meanwhile Germany has incurred most of the capital costs on its renewable generation capacity in the last 15 years.
It's like living in a neglected, crumbling old mansion with a paid off mortgage and claiming that it's cheaper than living in an average 2 bedroom semi because your outgoings are lower... for now.
>EDF was state-owned to begin with
Because unless you firehose the private sector with subsidies it'll never build an NPP.
- prottog 4y ago> Because unless you firehose the private sector with subsidies it'll never build an NPP Similarly, unless you hammer the private sector with mandates it'll never build solar panels atop parking lots? Besides, EDF was at one point the single largest producer of electricity in the world, and France does quite well for a developed country with high living standards in terms of per capita CO2 emissions, on the back of its nuclear program. It seems at least the firehose got them results with nuclear. I'm all in favor of abundant energy for human consumption, especially if it comes from low-externality source, but I do question how much the needle is going to move by mandating solar panels on parking lots, which carries with it its own externalities.
- Schroedingersat 4y ago> Similarly, unless you hammer the private sector with mandates it'll never build solar panels atop parking lots? Things can be expensive until lots of people do them and then become cheap. > I'm all in favor of abundant energy for human consumption, especially if it comes from low-externality source, but I do question how much the needle is going to move by mandating solar panels on parking lots, which carries with it its own externalities. France has about 38 million cars. If there are 19 million car parks that qualify at 40m^2 each or 1.4kW, that's 26GW (so about the level you want solar at in your mix with the rest from wind/nuclear/hydro imports/etc
- pydry 4y ago>Similarly, unless you hammer the private sector with mandates it'll never build solar panels atop parking lots? Clearly not coz it happens (profitably) outside of France without mandates. >I do question how much the needle is going to move by mandating solar panels on parking lots What data do you have that leads you to suppose it will make zero difference? A quick google suggests that if all the Walmarts alone in the US did this it would provide 11GW. 11GW is coincidentally how much incoming nuclear capacity France has under construction (not enough to replace capacity going offline).