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Australia is 1 - Huge, low density, lots of choice where to place renewables, 3 - has some of the best places for solar in the world, 4 - good solar production
by ClumsyPilot 4y ago
Australia is 1 - Huge, low density, lots of choice where to place renewables, 3 - has some of the best places for solar in the world, 4 - good solar production in winter.
Try Austria, and find that solar production falls 5-10x in winter, there is almost no good location for wind, and the problem is much harder.
- pfdietz 4y agoIndeed, central and eastern Europe are some of the worst places on Earth for renewable energy. They are "nuclear's last stand". What this means, though, is that in a post-fossil world energy intensive industries will simply move elsewhere. Why build your aluminum smelter in an energy ghetto?
- ClumsyPilot 4y agoI would add Canada and Alaska, but I think you are right, only Europe has high population and poor conditions for renewables - a terrible combination. This is not about industry, they need to run their economy, residential heating, etc.
- switchbak 4y agoCanada isn't great for many renewables, but hydro supplies most of its power. There's only a couple outlier provinces using coal.
- yawaramin 4y agoMost of Ontario's power comes from nuclear energy. And Ontario is the biggest economic zone in Canada.
- tchaffee 4y agoThat's wrong. 34% of Ontario's power comes from nuclear energy.
- yawaramin 4y ago58% as per https://www.ieso.ca//en/Learn/Ontario-Electricity-Grid/Supply-Mix-and-Generation https://www.ieso.ca//en/Learn/Ontario-Electricity-Grid/Suppl... > Most of the electricity produced in Ontario is generated at nuclear and hydro plants... Nuclear: 58% Hydro: 24% Like I said, most of Ontario's power comes from nuclear.
- tchaffee 4y agoYou're right. My mistake was reading the capacity numbers.
- pydry 4y agoAustria has just the right geography for pumped storage and is connected to a Europe-wide grid generating plenty of excess solar and wind.