The amount of nonsense I see pumped out by energy "experts" is insane.
"Baseload generation" is a fallacy. There is nothing saying you need the amount of power below which demand never drops to be met with thermal plants.
Grid frequency stability is a challenge facing grids transitioning to renewables - thermal plants like coal and nuclear have a lot of inertia in their rotors and so slow the rate of change of frequency. However, there are other technologies and techniques for stabilizing grid frequency.
In the UK it is becoming the case that wind is the "baseload" as in they undercut everyone on the market and so are always first.
Nuclear is almost uninvestable, investors often require government backed minimum energy price guarantees and building of nuclear plants takes far too long. The government often has to pay for much of the cost of the plant anyway.
A nuclear fission grid is not going to happen. It is not the way to go.
What can be done is strategic over-provisioning and positioning of wind power (for the UK). Wind power almost always produces something, this can be statistically modeled. The need for utility scale grid storage is overblown.
Meanwhile, Hinkley Point C is £3bn over budget and the Flamanville nuclear power plant, containing the same reactor design, is EUR 8 billion over budget and more than a decade behind schedule.
The UK has 6 (soon to be 8) of the 10 largest offshore windfarms in the world.
The amount of nonsense I see pumped out by energy "experts" is insane.
"Baseload generation" is a fallacy. There is nothing saying you need the amount of power below which demand never drops to be met with thermal plants.
Grid frequency stability is a challenge facing grids transitioning to renewables - thermal plants like coal and nuclear have a lot of inertia in their rotors and so slow the rate of change of frequency. However, there are other technologies and techniques for stabilizing grid frequency.
In the UK it is becoming the case that wind is the "baseload" as in they undercut everyone on the market and so are always first.
Nuclear is almost uninvestable, investors often require government backed minimum energy price guarantees and building of nuclear plants takes far too long. The government often has to pay for much of the cost of the plant anyway.
A nuclear fission grid is not going to happen. It is not the way to go.
What can be done is strategic over-provisioning and positioning of wind power (for the UK). Wind power almost always produces something, this can be statistically modeled. The need for utility scale grid storage is overblown.
Meanwhile, Hinkley Point C is £3bn over budget and the Flamanville nuclear power plant, containing the same reactor design, is EUR 8 billion over budget and more than a decade behind schedule.
The UK has 6 (soon to be 8) of the 10 largest offshore windfarms in the world.