this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2024
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[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wind and sun will always supply a base level of energy.

That is objectively false. The sun doesn't shine at night, and wind doesn't blow 100% of the time. So logically there is some amount of time that you do not get a base load provided only by sun and wind. Hence the need for storage at all. And yes it is a gotcha question, because it's something that anti-nuclear people hand-wave away as if the significant storage infrastructure to support a 100% renewable is just a rounding error, and not worth thinking about.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I did the calculation for you in a different answer, it isn't as unreasonable as you seem to think. Aside from that:

It's extremely uncommon for the whole powergrid to experience zero wind. That's not happening.

What pro-nuclear people are just waving away is so much more though. Space for storage is nothing in comparison.