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Comment by paranoidrobot | Hacker News Reader

> wind isn't capable of base load supply.

I'm sorry, but really: Citation required on that claim.

There's plenty of counter positions[1][2][3] which say that if you assume 'base load' is a genuine thing, that renewables, including wind, are capable of meeting all our power generation needs - through a mix of energy sources, and also energy storage.

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-12/renewable-ene...

[2] https://theconversation.com/renewable-energy-can-provide-bas...

[3] https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/baseload-ene...

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Base load generation is unnecessary, the only type of power that's needed is dispatchable or peak power. If you can meet demand at peak, you can meet demand in the trough too. All other power types are added to the grid to increase affordability, reliability or green credentials.

Neither wind nor nuclear are suitable to use for peak power.

This assumes that you're power generation always matches demand through time. If you had a sudden spike at night that you don't usually have (like in Texas where people kicked on their heat unexpectedly) and you were using solar, the mismatch would exist and you wouldn't be able to meet the load.

Exactly. You need natgas peakers (that aren't frozen) or charged batteries to deal with this. Nuclear, wind and solar are all unsuitable for this situation.

Or turbines burning hydrogen.

What do you think of the claims of user "corty" elsewhere in this thread, who seems to say that nuclear isn't unsuitable for this situation?

The primary problem with nuclear is the fact that it's insanely expensive. If you're not running it flat out 24/7, then the cost per MWh goes up dramatically.

Of all the other energy sources, it's the only one where we have to put serious consideration into warning people not to dig up the waste, and how to keep them from doing it thousands of years from now.

> and also energy storage.

Precisely, that's my point. The costings of the OP ignore that part.

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