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For the first time in the U.S., renewables generate more power than natural gas

e360.yale.edu

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Re: For the first time in the U.S., renewables generate more power than natural gas

#181

Post by thomasmg »

UltraSane wrote: post #136
thomasmg wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the few days without wind, natural gas is cheaper than nuclear. There is also biogas and hydro. Nuclear is not cheap to turn on off. Also, the insurance cost of nuclear power is not accounted for: basically, there is no insurance, and the state (the population) just have to live with the risk.

Natural gas emits CO2. The risks of climate change caused by CO2 utterly dwarf those of any nuclear reactor. Nuclear power in the US has the lowest deaths per joule of all of them.

I think the main issue with nuclear reactors is the cost, but yes I agree.

Re: For the first time in the U.S., renewables generate more power than natural gas

#182

Post by epistasis »

UltraSane wrote: post #171
tstrimple wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incredibly disingenuous for nuclear power proponents to state that grid storage is expensive. Your entire argument centers around the most expensive power generation available and one of the slowest to build.

Grid storage is very expensive which is why all grid scale batteries discharge in 4 hours or less at full output.

Grid batteries are mostly four hours duration because that's the natural charging and discharging rate for current chemistries, and there's no financial case to store energy for longer right now, as in there's no demand for long term storage at all. Four hours of storage is super profitable, eight hours is just unnecessary and nobody pays for it.

Plus, referring to this in terms of "hours" isn't exactly the most informative reference, the more underlying characteristic of storage is if it's meant for daily cycling, meaning that it makes mine every single day from arbitrage, or if it's multi day which is not a super profitable form of arbitrage at the moment. Daily cycling makes a ton of sense with solar. Longer term cycles make more sense paired with wind.

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