4 ms·

> European grids aren't that much better either, loads of investments needed in order to connect more renewables. On one hand, Spain and Portugal recently suff

by boricj 1y ago

> European grids aren't that much better either, loads of investments needed in order to connect more renewables. On one hand, Spain and Portugal recently suffered a complete blackout. On the other hand, instead of cascading the blackout France shrugged it off. The last time there was a country-wide blackout in France was back in the seventies. I'm not saying our grid infrastructure is perfect, but here we're not worried about losing electricity for an entire week whenever there's a winter storm.

alecco 1y ago
The Iberian peninsula blackout was caused by poor planning and over-subsidizing solar. When there's a lot of sunlight and not much demand the prices fall drastically so nuclear plants were turned off to stop losing money. The problem is nuclear energy works as a sort of pacemaker for the whole grid. For months there were warnings of wild fluctuations but the Socialist coalition government ignored them. They had appointed a politician with good optics (a rabid "green"/feminist) to manage the grid who just doubled down on policy until the blackout. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackout#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackou... And France might be good today but it is playing with disaster with very old nuclear plants. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/02/03/the-long-road-to-extending-life-of-french-nuclear-reactors_6014297_7.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/02/03/the-long... > Amortize France's 56 existing nuclear reactors as much as possible – which are 37 years old on average currently – is part of EDF's strategy. The highly-indebted company, which is in the process of becoming 100% state-owned again, intends to "make the best use" of its "industrial heritage," Lewandowski also told Le Monde. IMHO the whole EU should do an overhaul and make a reasonable plan to have a decent and stable grid. Some of the best companies and universities for nuclear power are in Europe! The continent should get rid of the rabid "greens". But sadly they always manage to stay in power, even if they get less than 20%! In left-wing coalitions like Spain and France they mark the agenda. And Germany's new "center-right" government needs the "greens" so they have a lot more power than they should. They talk about a plan and nuclear but there's zero funding. It's very sad.
- 1718627440 1y ago
  Not sure if you know, but the CDU (christian democratic union, conservative) currently is in a coalition with the SPD (socialdemocratic party of germany) not with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Union '90/ The Greens). But yes they need to compromise with them when the want to pass laws where a simple majority isn't sufficient. This isn't their biggest issue though, because in that case they also need to deal with Die Linke (The Left, former sole party of the GDR), which CDU voters very much don't want.
  - alecco 1y ago
    Come on, Reiche is Merkel so she is against nuclear. They say whatever voters want to hear but they have a different agenda. Most of the big center-left and center-right parties across the EU are infiltrated. I hope they clean up house before new, unhinged parties take over.
    - 1718627440 1y ago
      Ah I thought you meant the Green party not concepts about renewable energies in general. Then I just disagree with you, only focusing on renewables is an ideology, but I think rejecting it at all is also.
      - alecco 1y ago
        I never said I was against renewables. For example, solar in a country like Spain makes a lot of sense. But only as one component because it needs nuclear/hydro to make it stable (frequency) and take over on sudden supply/demand spikes.
        1718627440 1y ago
        Sorry, I should stop assuming. I think it would have been good to keep using the nuclear power plants, but now that they are abolished I'm not sure if the economy for building new nuclear plants looks right.

by boricj 1y ago

alecco 1y ago

The Iberian peninsula blackout was caused by poor planning and over-subsidizing solar. When there's a lot of sunlight and not much demand the prices fall drastically so nuclear plants were turned off to stop losing money. The problem is nuclear energy works as a sort of pacemaker for the whole grid. For months there were warnings of wild fluctuations but the Socialist coalition government ignored them. They had appointed a politician with good optics (a rabid "green"/feminist) to manage the grid who just doubled down on policy until the blackout. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackout#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackou... And France might be good today but it is playing with disaster with very old nuclear plants. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/02/03/the-long-road-to-extending-life-of-french-nuclear-reactors_6014297_7.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/02/03/the-long... > Amortize France's 56 existing nuclear reactors as much as possible – which are 37 years old on average currently – is part of EDF's strategy. The highly-indebted company, which is in the process of becoming 100% state-owned again, intends to "make the best use" of its "industrial heritage," Lewandowski also told Le Monde. IMHO the whole EU should do an overhaul and make a reasonable plan to have a decent and stable grid. Some of the best companies and universities for nuclear power are in Europe! The continent should get rid of the rabid "greens". But sadly they always manage to stay in power, even if they get less than 20%! In left-wing coalitions like Spain and France they mark the agenda. And Germany's new "center-right" government needs the "greens" so they have a lot more power than they should. They talk about a plan and nuclear but there's zero funding. It's very sad.

1718627440 1y ago
Not sure if you know, but the CDU (christian democratic union, conservative) currently is in a coalition with the SPD (socialdemocratic party of germany) not with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Union '90/ The Greens). But yes they need to compromise with them when the want to pass laws where a simple majority isn't sufficient. This isn't their biggest issue though, because in that case they also need to deal with Die Linke (The Left, former sole party of the GDR), which CDU voters very much don't want.
- alecco 1y ago
  Come on, Reiche is Merkel so she is against nuclear. They say whatever voters want to hear but they have a different agenda. Most of the big center-left and center-right parties across the EU are infiltrated. I hope they clean up house before new, unhinged parties take over.
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    Ah I thought you meant the Green party not concepts about renewable energies in general. Then I just disagree with you, only focusing on renewables is an ideology, but I think rejecting it at all is also.
    - alecco 1y ago
      I never said I was against renewables. For example, solar in a country like Spain makes a lot of sense. But only as one component because it needs nuclear/hydro to make it stable (frequency) and take over on sudden supply/demand spikes.
      - 1718627440 1y ago
        Sorry, I should stop assuming. I think it would have been good to keep using the nuclear power plants, but now that they are abolished I'm not sure if the economy for building new nuclear plants looks right.