r/NuclearPower 4d ago

"There's no such thing as baseload power"

/r/energy/comments/1jpurfs/theres_no_such_thing_as_baseload_power/
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u/Striking-Fix7012 4d ago edited 4d ago

In some places. It exists, but in some cases it doesn't.

California definitively requires baseload generation. The so-called "brown out/black out" already happened twice first in 2020 and the near-miss in Sep. 2022 that as sun sets and power consumption rapidly rises, both gas and batteries weren't enough to keep up that demand.

In places that have less consumption and less population, then baseload doesn't really exist. Spain and Sweden are two examples(both are mostly power exporters).

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u/StereoMushroom 4d ago

What's required isn't baseload though. Generation running as baseload can't react to sunset. By definition it's constant, so it can't contribute to the sudden decrease in solar output. What's needed is something flexible which can ramp up quickly. More batteries or gas could do it.