Comment on DOE: Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Virtual Power PlantsparentComments−gwbas1c2yNuclear has a fixed output, it doesn’t scale up and down the way fossil fuel plants do.This is a very, very old, and very, very solved problem.Today we'd solve it with batteries: Discharge when demand outstrips supply, recharge when supply outstrips demand.In the past, nuclear power was often paired with pumped storage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricit...Today a lot of pumped storage facilities have outlasted the nuclear power plants they were built to support. Instead of pumping at night, they pump when there's excess solar or wind.
Comments
This is a very, very old, and very, very solved problem.
Today we'd solve it with batteries: Discharge when demand outstrips supply, recharge when supply outstrips demand.
In the past, nuclear power was often paired with pumped storage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricit...
Today a lot of pumped storage facilities have outlasted the nuclear power plants they were built to support. Instead of pumping at night, they pump when there's excess solar or wind.