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ceejayoz | on: Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe (2025)
Batteries are cheaper and faster to make in large quantities.

No economy on the planet needs 24/7 peak power production. The times humans work correspond nicely with the times the sun is out.

jodrellblank | parent | next
Daytime doesn't mean the sun is out; the UK has heavy cloud cover and sunset near 4pm in mid-winter. https://grid.iamkate.com/ shows the UK is currently getting 10% of grid power from Solar at 3:30pm in March.
ceejayoz | root | parent
Sure. That's why there's the "interconnectors" section further down; the UK can take advantage of the fact that it's rarely simultaneously dark and zero wind across entire continents.
Imustaskforhelp | parent
> Batteries are cheaper and faster to make in large quantities.

Yes I agree but their extraction at scale is still very C02 Expensive.

> No economy on the planet needs 24/7 peak power production. The times humans work correspond nicely with the times the sun is out.

With Nuclear energy, let's face it. If you have a nuclear plant running, the input is just some uranium which we have plenty of. Thereotically we have no problem with running at peak power production.

You are also forgetting that Sun can be blocked during times of rains and Wind is unpredictable as well.

If you can work with solar panels only that's really really great. Unfortunately that's not how the world works or how I see it function :(

You are forgetting that markets operate after work and the late night culture and so many other things. You need lights at energy and quite a decent bit. You are also forgetting that if we ever get Electric vehicles then we would need energy during late night as well.

A lot of energy in general is still needed during nights and would we be still burning coal for that?

With all of this, I am not sure why you'd not like Nuclear?

ceejayoz | root | parent
> You are also forgetting that Sun can be blocked during times of rains and Wind is unpredictable as well.

We already have wires that cross continents to smooth out supply variations. It's exceedingly rare you get no sun and no wind over entire continents for an extended period.

> You are forgetting that markets operate after work and the late night culture and so many other things.

I'm not forgetting it, they just use less power.

You can see this easily in charts of supply/demand throughout the day: https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook#section-net-demand-tren...

> A lot of energy in general is still needed during nights and would we be still burning coal for that?

Again, batteries.

gotwaz | root | parent | next
Its not just about enough sun and wind capacity. There is already over supply in lot of the world. But the supply curve doesnt match the daily DYNAMIC demand curve so grid ops still dependent on coal and gas for different reasons. It becomes about what happens during unpredicted demand spikes, or when congestion on those wires happens whose load gets priority? which producers get curtailed? etc etc That moves probs into the political domain. You can watch daily grid ops live and see the probs. Wars and the weather randomly take down wires and substations all the time. If you can move people and factories to follow the wind and the sun then maybe you get demand and supply curves to match easier.
Imustaskforhelp | root | parent
> We already have wires that cross continents to smooth out supply variations. It's exceedingly rare you get no sun and no wind over entire continents for an extended period.

I can be wrong but you would probably lose tons of efficiency even within High Voltage DC lines if everyday late night we take energy from different countries. Also this is getting outside of topic of discussion for me because one of the reasons we want Nuclear or Green energy in general is also the environmental plus the sovereign plus the long term affordability plans.

Another point from your first comment but if we run peak production in nuclear say in a country A, then the country A can also give power to Country B at late night similar to what you are proposed for solars.

> Again, batteries.

Once again, within my first comment I raise issue of battery. You mention a comment and I respond and then we get to batteries again.

I have no problem with solar at all without batteries but batteries really flip the equation in terms of environmental concerns.

My question is plain and simple, Why not Nuclear? I understand, I am not against Solar. Although environmentally, I feel like battery is a valid concern.

I am just saying that long term, Nuclear seems to be the better/best option. Why not Nuclear? That is a question which it seems that you may not have answered and that's a discussion worth having as well In my opinion too.

We can agree on this, correct?

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