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To me the ideal solution is batteries. We build out the battery buffer capacity now with solar, and plug the distributed SMRs in place as the PV panels expire i

To me the ideal solution is batteries. We build out the battery buffer capacity now with solar, and plug the distributed SMRs in place as the PV panels expire in 20-30 years

toomuchtodo 1y ago
Solar will only keep getting cheaper, SMRs will never be able to compete. Old solar will get re-powered with newer, more efficient solar at a lower cost. Batteries and solar are cheaper than all other power sources in most of the world, and they will continue to decline in cost as manufacturing capacity increases. Solar PV out of China is 8 cents/watt, batteries are at $52/kwh (as of this comment). This is a con to slow the low carbon energy transition, when combined with the US federal government kneecapping renewable subsidies. That's great and all they're going to supposedly add 9GW of SMRs to the US grid within the next ten years, but there are ~5k US datacenters today, and they are still trying to build more. And who will be held accountable if they build zero SMRs? No one. https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-have-fallen-by-around-20-every-time-global-capacity-doubled https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-... https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-every-hour-of-every-day-is-here-and-it-changes-everything/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-e... https://electrek.co/2025/09/24/eia-solar-and-wind-crush-coal-with-20-percent-more-power-in-2025/ https://electrek.co/2025/09/24/eia-solar-and-wind-crush-coal... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64705 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64705 https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/images/figure_6_01_c.png https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/images/figure_6_01_c... https://reneweconomy.com.au/watershed-moment-big-battery-storage-prices-hit-record-low-in-huge-china-auction/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/watershed-moment-big-battery-sto... https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-quietly-saving-the-world https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-quietly-saving-the-wo... (the US currently deploys ~50GW of utility scale solar PV annually, and installed 10GW of batteries in 2024, with 20GW expected in 2025)
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Additional citations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45482085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45482085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45182003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45182003

To me the ideal solution is batteries. We build out the battery buffer capacity now with solar, and plug the distributed SMRs in place as the PV panels expire in 20-30 years

toomuchtodo 1y ago

Solar will only keep getting cheaper, SMRs will never be able to compete. Old solar will get re-powered with newer, more efficient solar at a lower cost. Batteries and solar are cheaper than all other power sources in most of the world, and they will continue to decline in cost as manufacturing capacity increases. Solar PV out of China is 8 cents/watt, batteries are at $52/kwh (as of this comment). This is a con to slow the low carbon energy transition, when combined with the US federal government kneecapping renewable subsidies. That's great and all they're going to supposedly add 9GW of SMRs to the US grid within the next ten years, but there are ~5k US datacenters today, and they are still trying to build more. And who will be held accountable if they build zero SMRs? No one. https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-have-fallen-by-around-20-every-time-global-capacity-doubled https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-... https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-every-hour-of-every-day-is-here-and-it-changes-everything/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/solar-electricity-e... https://electrek.co/2025/09/24/eia-solar-and-wind-crush-coal-with-20-percent-more-power-in-2025/ https://electrek.co/2025/09/24/eia-solar-and-wind-crush-coal... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64705 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=64705 https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/images/figure_6_01_c.png https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/images/figure_6_01_c... https://reneweconomy.com.au/watershed-moment-big-battery-storage-prices-hit-record-low-in-huge-china-auction/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/watershed-moment-big-battery-sto... https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-quietly-saving-the-world https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/china-is-quietly-saving-the-wo... (the US currently deploys ~50GW of utility scale solar PV annually, and installed 10GW of batteries in 2024, with 20GW expected in 2025)

toomuchtodo 1y ago
Additional citations: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45482085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45482085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45182003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45182003