3 ms·
Germany build the equivalent solar-capacity to the sum of every nuclear reactor it ever operated in the last 3 years. Our _green_ minister of the economy and e
by j-pb 2y ago
Germany build the equivalent solar-capacity to the sum of every nuclear reactor it ever operated in the last 3 years.
Our _green_ minister of the economy and energy continued running the reactors even past their agreed run-time because the Ukraine war happened, but they simply reached end-of-life.
So we've replaced the small amount of nuclear we had with renewables already. Now you might ask why we don't build new ones to move away from fossil fuels faster.
But why should you? It's impossible to argue that it would be economical given this chart:[1]
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#/media/File:3-Learning-curves-for-electricity-prices.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#...
- Maakuth 2y agoI don't think the parent's criticism was limited to the last three closures, but the whole fleet that was shut down starting 2011.
- j-pb 2y agoThe 3 year solar capacity includes every reactor ever build in germany, including those decomissioned _before_ 2011.
- Maakuth 2y agoThat's very impressive amount of solar capacity, but the nameplate power is not super useful measure in solar, as the capacity factor for solar is somewhere between 10-15% in Germany, while for nuclear it's more like 90%. To get rid of fossil fuels in Germany, a ton of natgas heating would need to be replaced with electric heat pumps, driving up the power consumption during winter. Solar hardly produces any energy during the winter.
- msandford 2y agoIs that nameplate or actual usable solar? In Texas or Spain the solar capacity factor is about 0.2, in Germany it's probably 0.15 or less. So if it's nameplate equivalent but with nuclear capacity factor of 0.9 or more you'd have to 6x the solar to produce the same amount of energy to the grid over a year.
- scrlk 2y ago10.1% capacity factor in 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany#Generation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany#Generat...