this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (17 children)

That's not what they were saying, they were saying that it's not economical to have an abundance of electricity when people need it the least, and little or no electricity when people need it the most. It would be one thing if utilities could sell solar electricity at peak demand hours for a higher price, to make up the difference, but that's just when solar generation is slowly down significantly or stopped entirely.

And, yes, I know that battery storage could theoretically solve this, but battery technology is not currently capable of providing electricity for the entirety of the time we need it. New technologies are being developed right now with the goal of achieving long term grid storage, but they are still in the R&D phase. I'm confident a suitable storage technology, or multiple technologies, will eventually come to market, but it's going to take a while.

Regardless, it is likely we will always need some kind of on-demand power generation to supplement renewables and maintain grid stability, and I think nuclear is the best option.

But we shouldn't act like the problem is that utilities are just greedy. Many utilities aren't even for-profit companies, as many are either not-for-profit cooperatives or public entities. Sure, there are also many for-profit power utilities as well, maybe even some with connections to the fossil fuel industry, but generally power utilities are not some great villain.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (8 children)

abundance of electricity when people need it the least

Isn't peak consumption around middle of the day for most countries?

it's not economical

Mfw electricity being cheap to generate is not economical

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I mean, "economy" fundamentally is the allocation of limited resources, if something is limited at a point when it's needed, then economical doesn't sound like the wrong word to use? (I'm aware economical means cheap, BTW)

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