So it has nothing to do with what if a meteor hit earth, because these nuclear plants are definitely not going to survive. We will probably have to stay away from these sites due to nuclear material contaminating the region.
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Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.
- Thread starter nwdiver
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- Energy Environment Policy
So it has nothing to do with what if a meteor hit earth, because these nuclear plants are definitely not going to survive. We will probably have to stay away from these sites due to nuclear material contaminating the region.
How? How does fission, fusion and/or geothermal make electricity? Physics will always be physics. Heat will always be a ridiculous source of electricity. Technology can't advance past physics.
Spoken like a true blue pill.
Living in a simulation and hacking it is the most probable way we'll ever get economically viable electricity from heat
But if we're hacking the Matrix we should just make this work. It took me awhile to read this chart! Initially, I thought the red line was Nat Gas, but couldn't figure out how that generated power could go negative?!?! Then I realized that's "imports", which means CA was actually exporting power to the other states during those hours.
Drivers told to stay clear of gas stations in 4 states
I guess the gas lobby is not doing its job, letting the government tell people not to go get gas. LOL
I guess the gas lobby is not doing its job, letting the government tell people not to go get gas. LOL
Sheesh. If they had vapor recovery nozzles like we do in California, they wouldn't have to stop pumping gas.
More fun from fracking. Water geysers from abandoned oil wells.
China’s Surge in Solar and Hydro Points to Early Carbon Peak
(Bloomberg) -- China has reduced power generation from fossil fuels as output from sunlight and water surges, feeding hopes that the world’s biggest polluter may have peaked emissions years before its own deadline.Most Read from BloombergWhat to Know About the Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria...
When the country has a plan and follows through…
China’s Surge in Solar and Hydro Points to Early Carbon Peak
(Bloomberg) -- China has reduced power generation from fossil fuels as output from sunlight and water surges, feeding hopes that the world’s biggest polluter may have peaked emissions years before its own deadline.Most Read from BloombergWhat to Know About the Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria...finance.yahoo.com
When the country has a plan and follows through…
And it happens in China too.
Casey has seen the light...
The solar industrial revolution is the biggest investment opportunity in history
Solar is in the process of shearing off the base of the entire global industrial stack – energy – and the tech sector still lacks a unified thesis for how to best enable, accelerate, an…
caseyhandmer.wordpress.com
Casey has seen the light...
The solar industrial revolution is the biggest investment opportunity in history
Solar is in the process of shearing off the base of the entire global industrial stack – energy – and the tech sector still lacks a unified thesis for how to best enable, accelerate, an…
The fact solar is now flirting with $0.20/w makes it even more insane that the enthusiasm for thermal still hasn't been tempered in some people.
Solar basically displaces dirty energy from the 'middle' out. ~100% at ~noon then soon all hours of the day. Then demand response shuffles more demand in from the edges to daytime. Then storage does even more. Until pretty soon ~60% of the hours of the year are monopolized by solar.
Thermal is from the bottom up. 1GW 24 hours/day. But it needs a market for >8,000hrs/yr. How does that happen when it's only needed for <4,000hrs/yr? Diablo Canyon is ~$600M/GW/yr. If you're paying $600M/yr it's simply not workable to only be able to contribute ~half the time. A gas turbine is ~$20M/GW/yr.
Thermal is not economically compatible with solar. I don't understand how there are people that don't understand this.
California achieves incredible new milestone with its power supply: 'It is the new reality'
"The percentages will only increase each year."
I do wish the neighboring states (that buys cheap renewable exported from California) offer EV rate to 3pm instead of ending early morning. I would rather charge my Tesla during late morning/early afternoon using solar power instead of at night when it's probably natural gas.
Current NV Energy rates for Las Vegas: 12a-8a EV rate, 8a-6p Normal Rate, 6p=9p Peak Rate, 9p-12a Normal Rate.
How about for seasonal power shifting? Ramp up thermal for late-fall to early spring for the times when solar is lowest and the waste heat is now a useful by-product instead of something to work against. No matter how cheap solar becomes, long-term stored energy is still pretty costly.
Gas Turbines can run on H2. Or you can make CH4 out of H2.
Electrolysis is going to be far cheaper for seasonal storage than running nuclear for ~half the year. And even the ~half of the year nuclear will be more useful you're still not going to need it ~most days.
It's a fairly simple progression.
- Solar is cheap => flood the grid with solar. Make solar fences, put solar on walls, put solar ~everywhere. That will ensure >100% daytime coverage even in winter. And really most solar additions should be ~vertical. Latitude facing solar mostly increases curtailment while vertical increases morning, evening and winter generation. Solar fences!
- When there's sufficient curtailment deploy storage. It's just a question of economics. If Solar is ~$20/MWh and adding capacity increases curtailment by ~50% the adjusted cost is ~$40/MWh. If the cycle life cost of storage is < $40/MWh... add storage... if it's >$40/MWh... keep adding solar until curtailment increases.
- When there's regular daily curtailment even with batteries start splitting water.
Gas turbines will provide 24/7/365 on demand power to ensure reliability. Always. First with CH4 and gradually H2. This is basically how the grid operates now. Because it's cheap and it works.
I'd love for someone to explain how spending $15B for a GW then ~$300M/yr to operate that GW adds any value here....
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Wind and solar isn't going to cut it for power generation. They are nice little supplements, but we still need nuclear, gas, and coal.
The math disagrees. We can get more than enough energy per year from wind and solar. Hydrogen is an effectively infinite battery. So how exactly would wind and solar 'not cut it'?
Gas Turbines can run on H2. Or you can make CH4 out of H2.
Electrolysis is going to be far cheaper for seasonal storage than running nuclear for ~half the year. And even the ~half of the year nuclear will be more useful you're still not going to need it ~most days.
It's a fairly simple progression.
- Solar is cheap => flood the grid with solar. Make solar fences, put solar on walls, put solar ~everywhere. That will ensure >100% daytime coverage even in winter. And really most solar additions should be ~vertical. Latitude facing solar mostly increases curtailment while vertical increases morning, evening and winter generation. Solar fences!
- When there's sufficient curtailment deploy storage. It's just a question of economics. If Solar is ~$20/MWh and adding capacity increases curtailment by ~50% the adjusted cost is ~$40/MWh. If the cycle life cost of storage is < $40/MWh... add storage... if it's >$40/MWh... keep adding solar until curtailment increases.
- When there's regular daily curtailment even with batteries start splitting water.
Gas turbines will provide 24/7/365 on demand power to ensure reliability. Always. First with CH4 and gradually H2. This is basically how the grid operates now. Because it's cheap and it works.
I'd love for someone to explain how spending $15B for a GW then ~$300M/yr to operate that GW adds any value here....
I was thinking of geothermal and nat gas, since you said "Thermal is not economically compatible with solar". That was where my original reply was coming from. Unfortunately neither battery storage nor pumped hydro are anywhere near $100/MWh for SEASONAL energy shifting, so your simple progression step 2 won't work.
That's why it's going to be Hydrogen. And that's why it's step 3. We're not likely to even start doing seasonal energy shifting for ~20+ years. Even when we start producing Hydrogen there's a lot of Hydrogen we need as Hydrogen that currently comes from Natural Gas. It would be silly to produce H2 to produce electricity in the winter if we're still making H2 from natural gas. Just keep burning gas to make electricity.
That's the underlying thesis in the thread title. We're going to be relying on natural gas to keep electricity reliable for the foreseeable future.
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Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
In India unprecedented heat. India's CO2 emissions hit a new high - the highest ever anywhere as COAL combustion surges to keep the coolers & air conditioners running.
This is a real FEEDBACK LOOP happening in India which affects not only India but also all of us of course.
Think that the UN have to intervene to work out this FEEDBACK LOOP taking place in India.
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