The 100% solar, wind and water plan is broken and costs 3 to 5 times more than alternative clean energy
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/01/the-100-solar-wind-and-water-plan-is-broken-and-costs-3-to-5-times-more-than-alternative-clean-energy.html/amp
. . .
A 40-year solar refurbishment schedule would mean the recycling and replacement of 1.23 million square meters of worn-out
panels, every single day, rain or shine – forever.
An all-nuclear grid composed of, say, 6,000 Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), each one generating 250 megawatts for a 7-year runtime, would require less than three reactor swap-outs per day (about 70 a month).
Think “nuclear battery”: Factory-built SMRs will be fully sealed, self-contained units, about the size of a city bus and transportable by highway or rail. The fresh reactor is installed and the spent reactor is taken to a central facility for service and refueling.
. . . .
Generating all U.S. primary energy by 2050 with renewables
Land for photovoltaic solar equal to Maryland and Rhode Island
Land for concentrated solar power equal to Connecticut
Land for onshore wind larger than New York state, Pennsylvania, Vermont
and New Hampshire
An offshore wind region larger than West Virginia
Our existing hydroelectric dams (upgraded to 3% of grid)
Over 140 GWs of hydrogen production for heavy vehicles (problematic)
4.38% overbuild of all WWS systems (inadequate)
Our existing pumped hydro storage (inadequate)
Bare-bones cost: $15.2 Trillion
Generating all U.S. primary energy by 2050 with nuclear power
Land equal to half of Long Island (including full security perimeters)
$9 Trillion with Generation III+ AP (Advanced Passive) Reactors
$6.7 Trillion with Generation III APR (Advanced Pressurized) Reactors based on South Korea’s price for U.A.E.
$3 Trillion with Generation IV Molten Salt Reactors
Existing hydroelectric dams (upgraded to 3% of grid)
Existing pumped hydro (to match the Roadmap, but superfluous)
18 months (minimum) of all-grid storage, in the form of reactor fuel
Total cost (depending on the reactors used): $3 Trillion – $6.7 Trillion
. . . .
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(Entire article is at the link. Zim.)
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