First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in operation

Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by defrost on Friday December 29, 2023 @01:27AM (#38802267)

There are better examples, but given you asked;

     With an installed solar capacity of 540 MW of PV, and a battery storage capacity of 225MW/1,140MWh (BYD ESS), the plant is designed to deliver 150 MW of dispatchable power from 5 am to 9.30 pm year-round to the national grid under a 20-year power purchase agreement with South Africa’s national power utility company, Eskom.

It's in MegaWatts not GigaWatts and delivers no power for seven and half hours every 24 hours.

That is not mimicing the stable baseload that nuclear (or a hydro electric pupmped storage dam) provides.

I'm not anti solar but a project such as your example has a long way to go to met the demands of a European country.

It's worth looking into how much of a dent it makes in South African energy demands.

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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by chris222 on Friday December 29, 2023 @02:03AM (#38802402)

Presumably all they would need to do here is change the ratios of solar and battery to achieve 24x7 dispatch. I presume the current arrangement is just more cost effective currently based on their needs but it does demonstrate there already are baseload style power purchase agreements occuring with combined renewables+storage facilities.

We’re likely to see another halving of battery costs within the next decade which will shift the economics further.

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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by JoachimS on Friday December 29, 2023 @05:37AM (#38803612)

Still MW not GW.

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Re:First new U.S. nuclear reactor since 2016 is now in opera... by Symbiote on Friday December 29, 2023 @06:03AM (#38803756)

10 of these solar power stations cost less than this new nuclear reactor.

It certainly looks like a worthy competitor. It only took 18 months to build!

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