For a fraction of the cost of nuclear, increase the storage capacity as well. We've had days where the price per MWh was negative in many hours, because of excess production.

The barriers to carbon free energy aren't technical, they're purely political.

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 23 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, back in 2010 and before nuclear was the way to go but with the incredible advancements in solar and wind it's no longer the best option.

Still shame on Germany for decommissioning nuclear reactors and deciding to build Nordstream 2 and burn coal as a replacement.

[–] cqst@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

with the incredible advancements in solar and wind it’s no longer the best option.

I haven't heard of any advancement that makes solar generate energy when the sun doesn't shine and wind generate energy when the wind isn't blowing.

[–] kaffiene@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago (3 children)

The wind is always blowing somewhere and overproduction is cheaper than batteries

[–] cqst@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You can't overproduce electricity. You have to match the load.

[–] kaffiene@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I know. There are many solutions to this

[–] fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

No, there is pumped storage. Honestly, despite the plethora of start-ups claiming to have a solution (sodium batteries, molten-salt, etc) The only really proven way to store electricity for later is pumped storage, but that relies on geography (hills) which not everyone has. Batteries are great for phones, and cars but they simply don't scale to countries.

[–] derGottesknecht@feddit.de 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

California is doing pretty good with their battery storage. And if all the electric car batteries get old we can use them as stationary grid storage.

[–] fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

That is actually very impressive. Thanks! I remain a bit skeptical as its only 1/5th of what they need and it's only one region of one (rich) country. Still, 10GW of lithium battery would be one hell of a fire ;-)

[–] kaffiene@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

South Australia implemented a 100mw battery for their power system in 2016

[–] steuls@sh.itjust.works 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Overproduction is how you get blackouts from damaging the grid

[–] uis@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Lol, just dump energy into resistors. Or desync two generators.

[–] kaffiene@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Or convert excess to hydrogen and provide resilience, or have arrangements for industry to consume the excess. Or ramp down your generation at those times. Or shift excess to neighbouring grids.

[–] fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This is wrong. Right now, europe is experiencing high pressure and doesn't have any wind. Check this out its map that shows you how much wind is being produced right now! Can you provide a source that says " the wind is always blowing somewhere" or is it just a platitude?

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 months ago

You haven't heard of any advancements in energy storage at all?

Not that we need them, the best energy storage is old AF and excellent

[–] oo1@lemmings.world 4 points 5 months ago

it has got cheaper, but it has to get cheap enough that you can buy enough batteries with the difference. I'm not sure it has become that cheap. Maybe these sodium battery things will get developed.

[–] partizan@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

You probably also didnt heard about Thorium based molten salt reactors, they are much safer than conventional nuclear, also cheaper, and you can have a 50MW installation in space not much larger than a shipping container. A 50MW solar installation is close to 1km2 and thats without any storage included. It even can be modified to run on spent fuel of conventional nuclear power plants.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

SMRs are DOA. They have been “the next big thing” for decades now. They need to shit or get off the pot.

[–] sandbox@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

No industry has quite so much vaporware technology as nuclear power. Any idiot can promise and never deliver. Look at Elon Musk.

[–] uis@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

You don't need to tie grids to transfer energy between them.

[–] fellowmortal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Please understand that negative prices are the market for electricity breaking down! That is not a good thing. It should mean that if you have solar panels on your roof you have to pay to participate in the national grid because you are dumping energy into the grid when it can't use it, but special rules have been made for renewable plants. Literally, imagine a contract-to-supply for wind or solar...

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I understand very well the implications of the negative price, which is why I advocated NOT to spend trillions in nuclear, when issues of balancing demand and production can be solved for a fraction of what nuclear costs.