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Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by ftth_finland on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @03:24AM (#35436255)
Tell me more about these available renewable energy sources that work when the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow and aren’t dependent on local geographical features being available.
Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by cinntaile on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @04:18AM (#35436614)
I have a hard time seeing how this is relevant for what I wrote. Can you doublecheck to be sure you didn't misunderstand the context?
Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by ftth_finland on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @04:37AM (#35436779)
Admittedly the grandparent is somewhat ambiguous about what constitutes availability, but my point was that widely available renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are intermittent.
Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by TheOtherHobbes on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @06:36AM (#35437528)
That's why we have grids and storage. Perhaps you should investigate those before making definitive statements about what renewables can and can't do.
Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by peterfirefly on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @12:54PM (#35442590)
We have very little storage and the grids require electricity generation from something. With lots of HVDC connections we could conceivably move enormous amounts of electricity around on a continental scale and thereby reduce the need for storage. That would be great...

...but it still won't be enough. We need something that can produce power when renewables can't.

Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by cinntaile on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @07:17AM (#35437861)
Sure, they're intermittent which is a downside but they still compete away constant output sources. I didn't mention it in my previous reply but it is possible to vary the output to a certain extend (depending on the technology), the problem is that the economics assume a pretty constant output. This equation doesn't add up in certain places anymore. Therefore I expect that we will have a lot fewer constant output energy sources and a lot more variable energy sources. This will be combined with a certain amount of storage, fossil fuel backup plants, systems to timeshift our energy consumption, probably more usage of district heating/cooling systems and a lot of other stuff of course.
Re:$60/MWh for advanced nuclear electricity is achievable: G... by Hackwar on Tuesday April 04, 2023 @07:20AM (#35437886)
It has been a long time since such a day existed. You are talking about a situation that is mostly theoretical. I could come around and claim that nuclear is also totally unreliable, with all the maintenance necessary and the cooling issues, especially in a heating world. Bullshit? Not exactly. Look at the issues France has been having with their reactors in the last 10 years, importing vast amounts of electricity from Germany.