Comment on Texas Needs Equivalent of 30 Reactors to Meet Data Center Power Demand
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 month agoDiablo Canyon is spending $5B for 5 year extension. That could buy 5 times the solar power (at least more total power output over 5 years) for 30+ years instead.
Is that 5x including battery storage? And is that 5x including degradation over 30 years?
I’m down for whatever is the cheapest way to get us off of fossil fuels over the long term. My understanding is that generally means a mix of baseload supply (nuclear, geothermal, hydro), “bursty” reveals renewables (solar, wind), and storage.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
It’s 5x more without batteries. The degradation level of modern panels makes them last usefully much longer than 30 years, but it’s reasonable to still just use 30 years excluding the free power past that point.
solar is cheapest, wind is complementary reducing battery needs. Hydro is less expensive than geothermal, and the latter is not as suited to giant power projects. Both provide the opportunity to be used as batteries pumping water uphill or heat down into the reservoir for “peaker power use” later in the day or seasonally. Solar and wind can power everything, but companies with expertise in other sectors can offer to help too. It’s only nuclear that is pure corruption uselessness.