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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

The UK's combined wind (23GW) and solar (13GW) generation capacity is at least 3x that of nuclear (9.3GW). Capacity factor aside, nuclear is not a necessary component of a future UK grid (with the caveat that it can import nuclear generated power from France over a 2GW interconnector). [1]

There are ~269 renewables projects, roughly 40GW, in the planning stages that will add to that existing renewables capacity. [2] Hydro imports from Scandinavia over an underwater HVDC transmission cable would also be a possibility.

[1] https://www.electricitymap.org/zone/GB?wind=false&solar=fals...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/16/planning-ap...

Note: Edits were made to this comment to the multiplier and the total nuclear generator capacity based on blibble's comment below.

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Check Hinkley Point C. When done it will reliably produce more than 3GWh every hour of every day. More than 28 TWh every year.

Your 269 renewable projects, occupying thousands of times more land space and requiring hundred of times more resources to build, will only produce 3 to 4 times as much at best, while still requiring an equivalent spare capacity (in storage, using unavailable technology, or in gas, coal, ... or nuclear) for times of no wind or no sun.

Renewables are a sham. A waste of money, land and resources. Seriously, I'm quite sure of it now.

> Renewables are a sham. A waste of money, land and resources. Seriously, I'm quite sure of it now.

From Wikipedia on HPC:

> EDF has negotiated a guaranteed fixed price – a "strike price"– for electricity from Hinkley Point C of £92.50/MWh (in 2012 prices),[26][81] which will be adjusted (linked to inflation) during the construction period and over the subsequent 35 years tariff period. The strike price could fall to £89.50/MWh if a new plant at Sizewell is also approved.[26][81] High consumer prices for energy will hit the poorest consumers hardest according to the Public Accounts Committee.

> One analyst at Liberium Capital described the strike price as 'economically insane' in October 2013: "as far as we can see this makes Hinkley Point the most expensive power station in the world... on a leveraged basis we expect EDF to earn a Return on Equity (ROE) well in excess of 20% and possibly as high as 35%".[98] "Having considered the known terms of the deal, we are flabbergasted that the UK Government has committed future generations of consumers to the costs that will flow from this deal"

> 25 September 2019, EDF announced that the total cost of the power station was likely to rise by up to £2.9bn and the total bill could be more than £22bn

This very much sounds like a waste of money and resources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_...

France just signed for a new large wind farm (300 mills), guaranteeing 120-140€/MWh for 20 years. What's subsidized, already?

I can't speak to France and EDF's poor energy policies. I suppose when you're a government propping up a state owned utility, it's all numbers on a spreadsheet being moved around (except you're soaking your citizens/rate payers in the process). Wind and solar are exceptionally cheap in sane energy markets.

there's a lot more than 4GW of nuclear in the UK

more like 10GW

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

Here's a more friendly reference:

https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr...

Something to note:

> The UK has 15 reactors generating about 21% of its electricity but almost half of this capacity is to be retired by 2025.

Capacity factor for wind is about 20%, for solar about 12.5%, for nuclear 90%. So let me restate it for you:

The UK's combined annual wind (40TWh) and solar (14TWh) generation capacity is still less than 3/4 of nuclear (72TWh).

Capacity factor aside, unreliability aside, seasonal variation aside, real word aside... you can argue literally anything.

Your numbers sound out of date.

See the data tables here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data-portal/electricity-generation-...

In 2019 the UK generated 51.04 TWh from nuclear and 76.55 TWh from wind and solar.

The last year Britain had a capacity factor for wind that low was 2010. The capacity factor last year was 33%.

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