Abstract:Nuclear fusion can be considered as a base-load power plant technology: High investment costs and limited operational flexibility require continuous operation. Wind and solar, on the other hand, as the putative main pillars of a future renewable energy system, are intermittent power sources. The resulting variations that occur on many different time scales require at first sight a rather flexible back-up system to balance this stochastic behavior. Fusion would appear not to be well suited for this task. The si… Show more
“…As for 'following all paths' and pursuing a mix of renewables and nuclear, they do not mix well: because of their high capital costs, nuclear power plants are most economically viable when operated at full power the whole time, whereas the variability of renewables requires a flexible balancing power fleet [170]. Network expansion can help the penetration of both renewables and inflexible plant [171], but this would create further pressure for grid expansion, which is already pushing against social limits in some regions. This feasibility criterion is not met by standard nuclear reactors, but could be met in theory by breeder reactors and fusion power.…”
Section: Their Feasibility Criterion 4: Ancillary Servicesmentioning
A recent article 'Burden of proof: A comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems' claims that many studies of 100% renewable electricity systems do not demonstrate sufficient technical feasibility, according to the criteria of the article's authors (henceforth 'the authors'). Here we analyse the authors' methodology and find it problematic. The feasibility criteria chosen by the authors are important, but are also easily addressed at low economic cost, while not affecting the main conclusions of the reviewed studies and certainly not affecting their technical feasibility. A more thorough review reveals that all of the issues have already been addressed in the engineering and modelling literature. Nuclear power, which the authors have evaluated positively elsewhere, faces other, genuine feasibility problems, such as the finiteness of uranium resources and a reliance on unproven technologies in the medium-to long-term. Energy systems based on renewables, on the other hand, are not only feasible, but already economically viable and decreasing in cost every year.
“…As for 'following all paths' and pursuing a mix of renewables and nuclear, they do not mix well: because of their high capital costs, nuclear power plants are most economically viable when operated at full power the whole time, whereas the variability of renewables requires a flexible balancing power fleet [170]. Network expansion can help the penetration of both renewables and inflexible plant [171], but this would create further pressure for grid expansion, which is already pushing against social limits in some regions. This feasibility criterion is not met by standard nuclear reactors, but could be met in theory by breeder reactors and fusion power.…”
Section: Their Feasibility Criterion 4: Ancillary Servicesmentioning
A recent article 'Burden of proof: A comprehensive review of the feasibility of 100% renewable-electricity systems' claims that many studies of 100% renewable electricity systems do not demonstrate sufficient technical feasibility, according to the criteria of the article's authors (henceforth 'the authors'). Here we analyse the authors' methodology and find it problematic. The feasibility criteria chosen by the authors are important, but are also easily addressed at low economic cost, while not affecting the main conclusions of the reviewed studies and certainly not affecting their technical feasibility. A more thorough review reveals that all of the issues have already been addressed in the engineering and modelling literature. Nuclear power, which the authors have evaluated positively elsewhere, faces other, genuine feasibility problems, such as the finiteness of uranium resources and a reliance on unproven technologies in the medium-to long-term. Energy systems based on renewables, on the other hand, are not only feasible, but already economically viable and decreasing in cost every year.
“…This is expected for CCS [54], fission [23] and fusion [1]. For baseload plants, access may be improved by long-distance interconnects which smooth out supply variations [55], but even in that scenario dispatchability will still be highly valued.…”
Fusion energy is often regarded as a long-term solution to the world's energy needs. However, even after solving the critical research challenges, engineering and materials science will still impose significant constraints on the characteristics of a fusion power plant. Meanwhile, the global energy grid must transition to low-carbon sources by 2050 to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We review three factors affecting fusion's future trajectory: (1) the significant drop in the price of renewable energy, (2) the intermittency of renewable sources and implications for future energy grids, and (3) the recent proposition of intermediate-level nuclear waste as a product of fusion. Within the scenario assumed by our premises, we find that while there remains a clear motivation to develop fusion power plants, this motivation is likely weakened by the time they become available. We also conclude that most current fusion reactor designs do not take these factors into account and, to increase market penetration, fusion research should consider relaxed nuclear waste design criteria, raw material availability constraints and load-following designs with pulsed operation.
“…The result is rather robust under variations of input parameters that were considered in scenarios. One scenario included the chances for a nuclear technology, which can be either fission or fusion, and finds that a large transmission grid would allow to have a system of renewables combined with such base load plants (Hamacher et al 2013 ). Fig.…”
The world’s power systems are facing a structural change including liberalization of markets and integration of renewable energy sources. This paper describes the challenges that lie ahead in this process and points out avenues for overcoming different problems at different scopes, ranging from individual homes to international super-grids. We apply energy system models at those different scopes and find a trade-off between technical and social complexity. Small-scale systems would require technological breakthroughs, especially for storage, but individual agents can and do already start to build and operate such systems. In contrast, large-scale systems could potentially be more efficient from a techno-economic point of view. However, new political frameworks are required that enable long-term cooperation among sovereign entities through mutual trust. Which scope first achieves its breakthrough is not clear yet.
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