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China is building a mammoth 8 GW solar farm
(electrek.co)
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this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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So I had no context for how big that is and why it's newsworthy
Tho still didn't understand the scale until I looked up a stat on nuclear
Then again, I thought, maybe nuclear power might be less productive than I think it is, so looked up a list of biggest power plants in the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_power_stations#Top_20_largest_power_producing_facilities
Then I learnt that that nuclear power plant has been out of action since like 2017. It'll soon(?) be active again but for now the record for biggest nuclear is held by a 7.4 MW power plant in South Korea
In conclusion, my ADHD medications have worn off and I should go to bed
So this ginormous solar field is roughly as powerful as a single nuclear plant?
A single nuclear unit in the US typically has 1 GW output or less. Some plants have multiple units. A two unit plant might have around 2 GW output for instance.
The world's largest nuclear power plant, which has been offline for over a year and hasn't been fully operational in over a decade
Fair enough, I suppose
No
No.
MW is the maximum capacity not the average.
A nuclear reactor runs at close to its maximum output pretty much 24/7/365.
A solar farm only operates during the day, and even then it only operates at maximum output in the middle of a clear sunny day.
The overall average output of a nuclear plant is typically around 90% of its capacity.
The overall average output of solar farm is 20-25%.
This massive farm will still only output a bit more electricity than what a single nuclear reactor outputs.
A nuclear power station typically has more than one reactor, so compared to a typical nuclear power station this isn’t even close to the average nuclear plant.
Though it does beat a few of the smallest nuclear plants that only have a single reactor.
Nuclear outputs a fuck-ton of electricity for its size.