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‘Energy independent’ Uruguay runs on 100% renewables for four straight months (theprogressplaybook.com)

submitted 11 months ago by kalkulat@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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"with wind the single-biggest contributor.... Power production costs have declined “by almost half” .... And the clean energy sector has created 50,000 new jobs.... Ask me what was the impact on the electricity sector in Uruguay after this tragic war in Europe — zero."

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[–] sitzathlet@feddit.de 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

AFAIK coal power plants often(always? Idk) use steam to drive their turbines in order to generate electricity. I'm not arguing against nuclear, but for a very diverse mix. Warm dry summer -> solar. Rainy dark winter -> hydro & wind. If we keep burning fossils, including nuclear, until we can switch to 100% renewals, I'm okay with that. The big advantage of renewals is the comparatively low cost of phases where no electricity is produced. A solar farm doesn't generate cost at night. Coal and nuclear plants can't just be "switched on and off" at will, and if they don't produce, still need a lot more attention. But for the meantime, they are necessary, until we either overbuilt so much renewables to cover for "no wind/sun/rain" situations, or get some storage solutions (batteries, hydrogen, biofuels,...) Implement on a large enough scale.

[–] mihies@kbin.social 3 points 11 months ago

That steam is closed circuit though. But yes, they need cooling water and perhaps pollution cleaning water. So I guess they are affected by droughts as well.