The transition

RunForTheHills said:
Small modular nuclear reactors are 5-10 years away. They are already planning and funding these projects. I am not a fan of AI data centers initiative/bubble, but they are being built and solar isn't going to power them. Data centers need high density uninterrupted power.
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the wind farm at "Gala"^ VA is supposedly to power a data center.
 
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Wind turbines break down often and have a finite life. If they are on the grid, guess who is going to pay for the maintenance and replacement? At least with SMNR, the company can be required to buy them, own them, maintain them, and replace them when needed.
 
stompandgo said:
Wind turbines break down often and have a finite life. If they are on the grid, guess who is going to pay for the maintenance and replacement? At least with SMNR, the company can be required to buy them, own them, maintain them, and replace them when needed.
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The reliability of wind definitely lags at roughly 1.5x the rate of coal downtime. Not sure how that translates to $$ as our coal plants age and have higher operational stress since they get cycled down when cheaper solar/wind production peak and then up during off peak times. BTW nuclear is by far the most reliable with essentially zero unscheduled downtime.

And to your point about ratepayers covering the cost. The last coal plant in our state was retired last December by the owner with plans to convert it to LNG and reopen in 2028. The DOE has ordered it to stay open through successive 90 day emergency orders. We are about to start the 3rd 90 day 'emergency' ...

Plant owner, Calgary-based TransAlta, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April to charge ratepayers $20 million to cover the cost of keeping the plant ready to run during the first 90-day order. The company estimated it would have to perform $23 million in repairs if the Department of Energy keeps ordering it to remain operational.

Of course, everybody is in court about it, so the cost will only go up although we don't know yet what combination of ratepayer vs taxpayers will pay the bulk of it.
 
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So SMNR are 10~15 years out still? Well we should have fusion power by then surely. It's only a decade away 😉
Here is a year old article on Dunkelflaute, quite a Buzz word in renewable circles now. Much higher prices for electricity is just the price some have to pay for innovation, we're not going to revolutionize the planet and colonize Mars by being cheapskates.

www.woodmac.com

Wood Mackenzie Study Reveals Critical Risks of Europe's "Dunkelflaute" Renewable Energy Droughts

A comprehensive new study by Wood Mackenzie reveals the growing challenge of "dunkelflaute" – prolonged periods of low wind and solar generation – as Europe transitions to renewable-dominated power systems. The research shows these events are driving extreme price volatility and exposing...
www.woodmac.com www.woodmac.com
 
BlackHand said:
The reliability of wind definitely lags at roughly 1.5x the rate of coal downtime. Not sure how that translates to $$ as our coal plants age and have higher operational stress since they get cycled down when cheaper solar/wind production peak and then up during off peak times. BTW nuclear is by far the most reliable with essentially zero unscheduled downtime.

And to your point about ratepayers covering the cost. The last coal plant in our state was retired last December by the owner with plans to convert it to LNG and reopen in 2028. The DOE has ordered it to stay open through successive 90 day emergency orders. We are about to start the 3rd 90 day 'emergency' ...

Plant owner, Calgary-based TransAlta, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April to charge ratepayers $20 million to cover the cost of keeping the plant ready to run during the first 90-day order. The company estimated it would have to perform $23 million in repairs if the Department of Energy keeps ordering it to remain operational.

Of course, everybody is in court about it, so the cost will only go up although we don't know yet what combination of ratepayer vs taxpayers will pay the bulk of it.
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Out here on the sandbar, we have one main generation plant with three generators. The oldest one is fuel oil only. The other two are multi-fuel, oil or natural gas. We have wind and solar too, which add another 20% or so of capacity. Wind makes a lot of sense here, just not in the ocean. Residential solar can, depending on siting. We have a number of gigawatt solar farms, which don't make sense to me. Land is scarce here. Maybe on top of a mummified landfill on town-owned land. Ripping up forest on town-owned or privately owned land, no way. If there were no vegetation here, we would be under water.
 
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