I think HVDC is a more important component in smoothing out demand/supply than you give it credit for, especially if you add wind into the mix.

In terms of security - one of the reasons nuclear power stations are so expensive is they have to survive a targeted plane crash etc - they are expensive high profile targets.

In the end the renewables model is a much more distributed model of generation, storage and consumption ( rather than a few massive power stations ) - so with a proper grid you could argue you would have fewer single points of failure, and increased resilence.

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mpweiher a day ago | parent [-]

Nuclear power plants are not expensive per unit of power delivered.

"distributed" sounds good as long as you don't think about it too much, because that distribution does not actually buy you decorellation: all these "distributed" plants produce very much in lockstep due to external factors (day/night, weather, seasons) that are extremely correlated, much more than any set of nuclear power plants ever could be.

Intermittent renewables do not increase resilience, they massively reduce resilience. In Germany, redispatch has increased more than tenfold in order to keep the grid stable in light of the destabilizing influence of intermittents that have been introduced. Spain just suffered their blackout last year with over a hundred deaths due to this destabilization (though the PR is trying everything to deflect the blame).

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DrScientist a day ago | parent [-]

> because that distribution does not actually buy you decorellation

It does it if your interconnects make the grid scale large enough, and it does if you consider distributed generation and storage as part of the overall system.

Sure if you take a grid designed for centralised on-demand generation, and apply that to renewable generation then you'll have problems. However I'm not suggesting that.

I'm also not suggesting something that has no emergency on-demand generation capacity.

> they massively reduce resilience.

I'm not talking about renewables alone - but in tandem with a grid infrastructure that has reach across timezones, multiple layers of distributed generation and storage.

Note nuclear powerstations are not as reliable as you might think - they often go offline.

https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-station/daily-statuse...

But just to be clear - I think there needs to be a mix - and part of that mix is grid capability improvements.

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mpweiher a day ago | parent [-]

> grid infrastructure that has reach across timezones,

"Night" reaches across more time-zones than you can build your grid across.

Never mind "winter".

> nuclear powerstations are not as reliable as you might think - they often go offline.

Define "often".

They are actually a lot more reliably than you seem to think: the capacity factor of the US fleet, for example, was >90% for the last decade(s). And that <10% offline time includes the planned refueling/inspection/maintenance times.

Nuclear power plants are incredibly reliable.

	▲	DrScientist a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Night" reaches across more time-zones than you can build your grid across. > Never mind "winter". Demand isn't at an even level across the night ( high early evening, low 3 am ) - if your grid spans time-zones you can smooth that out, and renewables span more than solar. Wind doesn't stop at night, hydro doesn't stop at night etc. > nuclear powerstations are not as reliable as you might think - they often go offline. Maybe it's a UK thing with nuclear reactors operating beyond their initial design life - but there was a situtation last year where the majority of them were down at the same time and the UK had to make high use of our interconnect with france ( using their nuclear capacity ). In the UK the 2025 nuclear output was 12% down on the previous year due to outages. The point here is that a grid that expands beyond national boundaries - helps in general, not just specifically for renewables. And before you go on about energy sovereignty - where do you think the Uranium comes from?
	▲	direwolf20 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I'm really not impressed with this reoccurring argument: "Solar power is good." "But night!"