Comment by cbmuser
4 hours ago
Nuclear power is generated on demand and allows a full decarbonization of the power grid as can be seen France.
Solar just produces when the sun is shining meaning you can’t build a power grid on it.
Just comparing total generation over a year is comparing apples and oranges.
A kWh is a kWh. A kWh of either solar or nuke means a kWh of coal or gas was not burnt. Seems like apples to apples to me.
A kWh isn’t a kWh if one is only available at certain times of day, under certain weather conditions.
A kWh isn’t a kWh if one contributes to grid stability and the other relies on it.
Storage makes the difference, in both cases. You can black start from GFM-BESS. And I believe theoretically if you've got a big solar farm strapped to that BESS you can even wait until daylight and straight up black start your entire system from empty, the BESS will cheerfully fill with solar power despite no grid, and then once you've got enough juice to press the button you can black start your entire network.
A kWh is a kWh is a kWh in terms of removing a kWh of fossil emissions off the annual totals. Which is the story here.
Solar is now displacing more kWh of fossil emissions per year than nukes, despite whatever complaints you may have.
You can if you store the energy somehow.
This I leave to your imagination.