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Comments on: Is nuclear power generation the way for New Zealand? http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/ The Visible Hand in Economics Thu, 11 Oct 2018 01:41:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Ed Snack http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-302 Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:11:04 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-302 Nope, can’t manage with 10% thermal backing up so called renewables, the sun may be shining, the wind may be blowing, but, as the saying goes, it ain’t necessarily so. On any given day you need backup for your entire undependable generation to the extent that you need to satisfy demand. Or, of course, simply shut off power to which ever chunk gets the short straw.

Two further points, distributed may have benefits, but it also has problems. Designing and maintaining a centralised system is simpler, and indeed the current system is unsuited to distributed generation 9as you are using it). Secondly current solar generating via photo-voltaics has a definite limited life, performance drops off year by year, and the drop is significant, very significant over time. However I agree that the future for PV is indeed rosy although it may be 10 – 20 years before it is mainstream competitive.

Realistically, small scale nuclear is probably the way to go in NZ for base load, but one would want a thorough investigation first to show if that is correct. World wide it is probably the only way, and breeder technology at that. This raises issues, what choice doesn’t, deal with them and get past the anti-nuclear propaganda.

]]> By: Matt Nolan http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-299 Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:35:48 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-299 Hey, the link to the Michael Laws piece you mention is:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4195223a22678.html

]]> By: dant03 http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-301 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:57:19 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-301 You are dead right Jon – there are definite benefits of distributed generation, including less pressure on the grid (less outages and less needing to be invested), less costs of transmission, and less energy loss in the transmission process (10-20% at times).

I also agree about solar, and a measured introduction of marine power as it proves itself. There are additional benefits of using these – the more variety of renewable you have, the more options there are. So if the wind isn’t blowing, the sea may be rough, sun may be shining etc, in different parts of New Zealand. This reduces the need to back up thermal generation – although in the mid term, for safety, around 10% is still needed from thermal generation.

]]> By: Jon Dean http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-300 Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:47:10 +0000 http://tvhe.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/is-nuclear-power-generation-the-way-for-new-zealand/#comment-300 Solar is definitely coming down in price – you can get arrays for less than $8/watt at retail price in New Zealand now. Presumably when centralised electricity fails because of snow storms, this counts as a negative externality – which presumably is ignored when calculating the economic benefits of solar/renewable vs traditional systems?

Personally, I’d say we spend a couple of billion building some current turbines in Cook Strait – won’t happen though because Kiwi’s and Politicians are too risk adverse.

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