I'm surprised they chose to shut off the nuclear plants instead of curtailing the renewables. I'd have assumed that it's much harder to restart the nuke when the oversupply period ends than to...
I'm surprised they chose to shut off the nuclear plants instead of curtailing the renewables. I'd have assumed that it's much harder to restart the nuke when the oversupply period ends than to flip the south on the renewables. At least that was why people argue for nukes as baseload, iirc. Does anyone know what the rules are for who gets shut in first in France?
I think you have argument for nuclear for baseload somewhat reversed. Typically, the argument is that since it is much easier to control a reactor than the weather (which is the biggest issue for...
I think you have argument for nuclear for baseload somewhat reversed. Typically, the argument is that since it is much easier to control a reactor than the weather (which is the biggest issue for many renewable such as solar or wind), that you can easily modulate your power output. From what I understand, a dead start is difficult, but there is a lot of room to reduce reaction rates just by varying the number of control rods in the reactor.
I'm also confused about why they'd choose to shut off reactors as the economics of nuclear power plants is largely the time to build and associated capital costs, not the operating costs. You have...
I'm also confused about why they'd choose to shut off reactors as the economics of nuclear power plants is largely the time to build and associated capital costs, not the operating costs. You have to pay interest rates regardless of if you run the reactor or not.
Isn't the answer to renewable variability batteries:
Lithium ion for grid stabalisation/energy dense applications
Flow/hydro batteries to flatten the daily energy curve
Hydro batteries for long term fluctuations
The problem is if these fluctuations are too large and you have no baseload to compensate you get over/under supply.
edit: why aren't they using the transmission grid to move energy to countries who are using more expensive fossil fuels than shutting down nuclear power plants?
Another factor to take into account is maintenance: a lot of nuclear reactors have a planned shutdown in summer for maintenance. I wouldn't be surprised that these shutdowns are planned, except...
Another factor to take into account is maintenance: a lot of nuclear reactors have a planned shutdown in summer for maintenance. I wouldn't be surprised that these shutdowns are planned, except for the precise timing depending on weather and export markets.
France does export a lot of electricity to other countries in Europe. Maybe the export market isn't there temporarily because of renewables in other countries? For a utility that has both nuclear...
France does export a lot of electricity to other countries in Europe. Maybe the export market isn't there temporarily because of renewables in other countries?
For a utility that has both nuclear power plants and other renewables, when the market price is negative, that's incentive to shut something down. But after shutting down any power plants that burn fuel, I don't know how they decide. Interest payments don't matter because they have to pay them regardless.
French electricity prices turned negative as a drop in demand and surging renewables output prompted some nuclear reactors to power down.
Daily consumption from Thursday through Sunday is seen falling by an average 6 gigawatts, a Bloomberg model shows. Sunny and blustery weather has driven up solar and wind generation, prompting the grid operator to request that Electricite de France SA take several nuclear plants offline.
While more clean power is needed across Europe to reach climate goals, soaring renewables output and a lack of battery storage mean reactors sometimes have to be turned off during periods of low demand. It’s becoming increasingly common around weekends in France — which gets about two-thirds of its electricity from its atomic fleet — and also occurs in the Nordic region and Spain.
I'm surprised they chose to shut off the nuclear plants instead of curtailing the renewables. I'd have assumed that it's much harder to restart the nuke when the oversupply period ends than to flip the south on the renewables. At least that was why people argue for nukes as baseload, iirc. Does anyone know what the rules are for who gets shut in first in France?
I think you have argument for nuclear for baseload somewhat reversed. Typically, the argument is that since it is much easier to control a reactor than the weather (which is the biggest issue for many renewable such as solar or wind), that you can easily modulate your power output. From what I understand, a dead start is difficult, but there is a lot of room to reduce reaction rates just by varying the number of control rods in the reactor.
I'm also confused about why they'd choose to shut off reactors as the economics of nuclear power plants is largely the time to build and associated capital costs, not the operating costs. You have to pay interest rates regardless of if you run the reactor or not.
Isn't the answer to renewable variability batteries:
The problem is if these fluctuations are too large and you have no baseload to compensate you get over/under supply.
edit: why aren't they using the transmission grid to move energy to countries who are using more expensive fossil fuels than shutting down nuclear power plants?
Another factor to take into account is maintenance: a lot of nuclear reactors have a planned shutdown in summer for maintenance. I wouldn't be surprised that these shutdowns are planned, except for the precise timing depending on weather and export markets.
France does export a lot of electricity to other countries in Europe. Maybe the export market isn't there temporarily because of renewables in other countries?
For a utility that has both nuclear power plants and other renewables, when the market price is negative, that's incentive to shut something down. But after shutting down any power plants that burn fuel, I don't know how they decide. Interest payments don't matter because they have to pay them regardless.
Quotes from the article (archive):