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bryanlarsentoday at 4:44 PM1 replyview on HN

The ironic part is that baseload is usually brought up by nuclear proponents along with comments about storage not being able to fill in the gaps.

Yet pumped hydro storage was originally implemented in the 70's because nuclear of the time couldn't do peaking power. It was envisioned as a way to move cheap nuclear power generation from the nighttime lows to daytime peaks.

Baseload is just a cost optimization. We need a power system that meeds demand 24/7/365. If we've done that then we've also provided baseload, by definition.


Replies

rcxdudetoday at 4:55 PM

Yeah, nuclear wants storage (or gas peakers) just as much as renewables do.