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Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

reuters.com

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Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#41

Post by msandford »

j-pb wrote: post #24
DataDaemon wrote: post #13

[flagged]

Germany build the equivalent solar-capacity to the sum of every nuclear reactor it ever operated in the last 3 years. Our _green_ minister of the economy and energy continued running the reactors even past their agreed run-time because the Ukraine war happened, but they simply reached end-of-life. So we've replaced the small amount of nuclear we had with renewables already. Now you might ask why we don't build new on…

Is that nameplate or actual usable solar? In Texas or Spain the solar capacity factor is about 0.2, in Germany it's probably 0.15 or less.

So if it's nameplate equivalent but with nuclear capacity factor of 0.9 or more you'd have to 6x the solar to produce the same amount of energy to the grid over a year.

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#42

Post by mnau »

DataDaemon wrote: post #13

[flagged]

Nuclear is dead in EU.

It's a capital intensive project that should run 24/7 to recupe the cost.

What will happen when solar is cheaper than nuclear 50% of a year(that is going to happen, we can charge batteries for a day and solar will have enough capacity)?

Thanks to electricity pricing, it won't be bought and thusprice from nuclear will have to be double in remaining time.

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#44

Post by martin_a »

Kuinox wrote: post #31
martin_a wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear reactors were EOL and not even their owners wanted to run them any longer. So please stop spreading your misleading take.

You ask to not spread misleading then immediatly spreading a politician lies. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/26/german-green...

I don't find a single, reliable German source for all of that fuss. That might make you think about it again...

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#45

Post by hkwerf »

Kuinox wrote: post #31
martin_a wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear reactors were EOL and not even their owners wanted to run them any longer. So please stop spreading your misleading take.

You ask to not spread misleading then immediatly spreading a politician lies. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/26/german-green...

You'll notice that, if you read the original messages, nowhere did they suggest anything concrete. They're just offering to investigate what would need to be done to continue operation. This is just blown out of proportion and thus far has had no relevance in the German political landscape. It's rightfully ignored.

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#46

Post by KingOfCoders »

The numbers are too low. We have seen a surge in solar panels on balconies (~10% in this higher income neighborhood), which isn't taken into account. Also several people in my family have their roof full for their own consumtion + EV, this also not taken into account.

We recently went on the Autobahn for a 1000km journey, and you can see some solar farms, but very few. There is still a huge potential.

Solar will also kick into second gear as soon as batteries get cheaper or EV batteries are recycled into house batteries.

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#48

Post by martin_a »

njarboe wrote: post #37
DataDaemon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine how low CO2 levels would be if nuclear plants were online...

Or if they had gone full nuclear like France. From the article: "While Germany's power carbon intensity vastly exceeds the roughly 45g of CO2/KWh of France's nuclear-heavy system, the 166g reading at 1 p.m. on May 13 was below the 170g of CO2/KWh emitted during the same hour in Britain, which on an annual basis has a far lower carbon intensity than Germany."

> full nuclear like France

The France that regularly has to shut down its reactors in the summer because there's no water for cooling left? Great idea!

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#49

Post by Kuinox »

vaylian wrote: post #38
martin_a wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear reactors were EOL and not even their owners wanted to run them any longer. So please stop spreading your misleading take.

plus, Russia was a large supplier of uranium https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-just-cant-quit-russia...

Russia is part of the uranium supply chain (not the source of the raw material), because the greens closed off the research&plants in EU.

A well known example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superph%C3%A9nix

UK stepped up and started to invest in the supply chain and replace Russia one day.

Re: Germany solar power output jumps to record highs

#50

Post by kgabis »

j-pb wrote: post #32
Kuinox wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your solar doesn't work well in winter, and in night. At this point it's more important to build energy storage to drive down the CO2. > If we manage to hold off regressive forces that are trying to derail the current trajectory with whataboutism of nuclear Nuclear already reached the target. It's not some "whataboutism".

Looking at this chart, how has nuclear reached its target? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#... Nuclear has less capacity than solar. Nuclear has less capacity than on-shore wind. Nuclear is currently 3x as expensive as on-shore wind. Nuclear is currently 2x as expensive as solar. France spend the last 70 years building low-CO2 energy reactors. Nobody is disputing that this is a great thing…

Installed capacity is a silly metric when you want to compare intermittent energy sources like solar and wind with baseload ones like nuclear.
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