this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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You make it sound like the completely predictable power output of nuclear is a problem and unpredictable variation in output of the wind/solar is great.
That's totally not what they said. Nuclear is very slow to change power output slower than demands fluctuate.
That is a challenge, because it means you need a flat consumption curve as well -- which in reality you don't see often. I.e. you either need to waste or cheaply export energy, especially at night and over the weekend to make sure your grid doesn't crash.
The point is that augmenting solar/wind with (plain) nuclear doesn't work well.
But the variability of solar/wind are a challenge as well, especially given the at times negative energy prices. Fossil, biomass, battery, pumped hydro, and H2-based power production have a huge advantage there.
Well there's a base load of the grid that can be effectively served by the non-variable power plants - or is this outdated approach?
For every country that is moving to a solar/wind-dominated future, "base load" definitely is outdated. "Base load" was always artificially propped up economically through night-time power tariffs, and propped up practically through night shifts in factories (thus continually running processes) and things like night storage heaters.
You certainly don't need base load to keep the grid stable, you just need to be able to quickly match production and consumption.