Something that irks me, someone working in the energy industry, is HN's (and reddit's) obsession with "baseload generation", throwing that term around without really understanding it.

It irks me because there is no such thing really. "Baseload" is the lowest point demand reaches during the 24 hour cycle. At all other points in time it is basically a number on a sheet.

What is needed, is enough dispatchable generation to cover lapses in renewable output, keeping blackouts to an "acceptable" level. Such dispatchable generation does not necessarily need to be large thermal plants.

The bigger reason why there is not much new nuclear, is not political reasons but rather the fact that nuclear is simply uncompetitive with other fuels, including wind. Given that wind power is only increasing, investors don't want to invest into a nuclear plant, then wait a decade for a plant to be built that ends up rarely selling power because other power sources always undercut them.

Germany invests in energy storage technology to harvest cheap surplus energy from the renewables and balance supply and demand over time. The spot price for electricity here reliably oscillates between 30 and 50 € / Mwh per day, with occasional periods with negative prices on windy/sunny days. Energy storage can be used to pocket the arbitrage, so there is a direct incentive to deploy it.

Gas from Russia maybe? Big pipelines being built in the Baltic Sea.

Gas releases 50% less CO2 per kWh produced than coal, so it is a good intermediate to reduce emissions on the short term.

At worst they can import electricity from France which has plenty of nuclear power.

France will not have plenty of nuclear power to spare, many reactors are old and there is no plan to build more of them. In a few decades most reactors will have to shutdown because these things don't live forever.

They don't even have enough spare capacity now. I think I remember reading that when peak loads were particularly high recently, they had to import power from Germany.

>import electricity from France

There is no interconnector, France and Germany are on the same grid I believe.

Ah yes, the benefits of nuclear power with no responsibility for dealing with the waste.

Shifting the burden elsewhere hardly seems fair, does it?

Anyhow, I don't think that importing power from a neighboring country is a long-term solution to Germany's electricity needs.