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hunter

(39,056 posts)
6. It's a damned lie that solar and wind power cost less than fossil fuels or nuclear.
Sun Nov 24, 2024, 12:41 PM
Nov 24
Cost of electricity with nuclear:

Capital cost of nuclear power plant plus Maintenance costs.

Fuel and safe disposal costs are not a large part of the equation.

Cost of electricity with fossil fuels:

Capital cost of fossil fuel power plant plus Maintenance costs plus fuel costs.

Fossil fuel waste is simply dumped everywhere without account and will eventually destroy this world as we know it.

Cost of electricity with fossil fuels, wind, and solar:

Costs of fossil fuel power plants (including ALL environmental and Capital costs) plus Capital costs of wind and solar plants, including distribution, plus Maintenance costs of wind and solar minus the fossil fuel equivalent cost of wind and solar power produced when there is a demand for it.

Because the capacity factors of wind and solar are so poor, about 16% in the case of home solar, 25% in the case of large scale desert solar, and around 30% for wind, fossil fuel primary power will always be required. Adding batteries to these hybrid systems will only increase the cost of electricity further.

Wind and solar power cannot displace fossil fuels entirely, which is what we need to do.

Nuclear power is the only energy resource capable of displacing fossil fuels entirely, and it can do so for less cost and much smaller environmental impacts than hybrid solar / wind / battery / fossil fuel systems.

If we build nuclear power plants then we don't need wind or solar power, which brings great distress to solar and wind advocates who inevitably become tacit supporters of the filthy natural gas industry and environmentally destructive battery and hydroelectric storage schemes.

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