Solar v nuclear in France

[binky]

Considering the French are nearly all nuclear, this is interesting

 

[joe 90]

Soooo, what happens after 10pm?

 

[binky]

Soooo, what happens after 10pm?

wind works 24/7, and they still have a lot of nuclear. France went nuclear big time after WW2, but recent weather events have caused problems, namely droughts meaning insufficient water to cool the nuclear plants.

 

[Geoff1946]

I think they have some hydro electric too which is presumably very easy to switch on and off.

 

[binky]

I think they have some hydro electric too which is presumably very easy to switch on and off.

They also have a large tidal scheme


https://g.co/kgs/9jdqvLW

 

[Geoff1946]

That's what we should be doing. I see the French got there in 1966 !

 

[joe 90]

That's what we should be doing. I see the French got there in 1966 !

Damming the Severn estuary for hydro was mooted not so long ago. That would have been a phenomenal civils project.

 

[binky]

Damming the Severn estuary for hydro was mooted not so long ago. That would have been a phenomenal civils project.

just so ruddy expensive to do

 

[John Burns]

wind works 24/7, and they still have a lot of nuclear. France went nuclear big time after WW2, but recent weather events have caused problems, namely droughts meaning insufficient water to cool the nuclear plants.

China has just opened the 1st Thorium nuclear reactor power plant in the Gobi desert. It is safer in the remote desert also needing no water to cool.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Damming the Severn estuary for hydro was mooted not so long ago. That would have been a phenomenal civils project.

just so ruddy expensive to do

Considering that we have, on our doorstep, one of the greatest tidal range variations in the world... (Severn Estuary)... I think somewhere in Brazil has a bit bigger tidal range?..

Why can't that natural energy be captured.. Stored.. transmitted.. etc.. etc..
for the benefit of greener.. net-zero... carbon efficient fuel generation???

 

[John Burns]

Considering that we have, on our doorstep, one of the greatest tidal range variations in the world... (Severn Estuary)... I think somewhere in Brazil has a bit bigger tidal range?..

Why can't that natural energy be captured.. Stored.. transmitted.. etc.. etc..
for the benefit of greener.. net-zero... carbon efficient fuel generation???

Bay of Mundy in Canada is the highest tidal range.
Damming the Severn or the Mersey for electricity is economically a no goer as wind and solar has come to the fore.

Cheaper ways of harnessing the tide.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-57991351

 

[binky]

Considering that we have, on our doorstep, one of the greatest tidal range variations in the world... (Severn Estuary)... I think somewhere in Brazil has a bit bigger tidal range?..

Why can't that natural energy be captured.. Stored.. transmitted.. etc.. etc..
for the benefit of greener.. net-zero... carbon efficient fuel generation???

Sheer cost, but also environmental impact on birds that feed on the mudflats. It's cheaper to build wind turbines and a lot easier. I know several smaller schemes were mooted some years ago, but can't remember why they didn't go ahead

 

[binky]

China has just opened the 1st Thorium nuclear reactor power plant in the Gobi desert. It is safer in the remote desert also needing no water to cool.

Thorium is interesting technology, but apparently hard to make work, so it will be interesting to see how they get on with that plant. I'll have to do some googling

 

[John Burns]

Thorium is interesting technology, but apparently hard to make work, so it will be interesting to see how they get on with that plant. I'll have to do some googling

Thorium is working.....

 

[John Burns]

Japanese are making hydrogen using high temps from a nuclear reactor. They are going hydrogen as only hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in industry. We may see large vehicles like ships and trains running on hydrogen. A hydrogen train is running in Germany, one was to be trialed between Liverpool and Chester but Covid got in the way. Also hydrogen can be produced on site by wind electricity, like at a train depot. So no transport costs and road transport dangers eliminated.

Natural gas can be a mix of 20% hydrogen without changing or adapting appliances. This reduces emissions, especially in towns & cities. Natural gas is the cleanest of fossil fuels and can be made 20% cleaner. In summer, when it matters most for air quality, little of it is used - only used in towns and cities heating predominantly DHW and that is reduced as water's temperature is raised in water mains and water storage tanks.

 

[John Burns]

Soooo, what happens after 10pm?

Wind and solar with grid battery storage is all we need. And hydrogen for industry created from nuclear plants and wind when too much energy is being generated.

 

[John Burns]

Go to Tony Seba's channel. He is a futurist. He takes past and current data projecting it into the future using graphs, etc. In 2012 he predicted the EV car and solar & wind revolution - everyone laughed at him. Boy he was right. His presentation on food and agriculture is truly eye opening.

His channel....
https://www.youtube.com/@tonyseba

One of his presentations....

 

[binky]

Thorium is working.....

China reminds me of when we had decent engineering industries in the UK.

 

[binky]

Japanese are making hydrogen using high temps from a nuclear reactor. They are going hydrogen as only hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in industry. We may see large vehicles like ships and trains running on hydrogen. A hydrogen train is running in Germany, one was to be trialed between Liverpool and Chester but Covid got in the way. Also hydrogen can be produced on site by wind electricity, like at a train depot. So no transport costs and road transport dangers eliminated.

Natural gas can be a mix of 20% hydrogen without changing or adapting appliances. This reduces emissions, especially in towns & cities. Natural gas is the cleanest of fossil fuels and can be made 20% cleaner. In summer, when it matters most for air quality, little of it is used - only used in towns and cities heating predominantly DHW and that is reduced as water's temperature is raised in water mains and water storage tanks.

Japan has very much decide Hydrogen is the future. The downside of hydrogen is producing it takes 7 more times energy than you can get back from it, if anyone can crack that issue, then I think it's better than batteries.

 

[John Burns]

Japan has very much decide Hydrogen is the future. The downside of hydrogen is producing it takes 7 more times energy than you can get back from it, if anyone can crack that issue, then I think it's better than batteries.

Look at the Utube link I gave about how hydrogen is made. It is actually happening right now. And cheaply.