There’s been a lot of talk about SMR’s over the years, it’s nice to see one finally being built.
Even if it comes in over budget, getting the first one done will be a great learning experience and could lead to figuring out how to do future ones cheaper.
Assuming it’s on time, completion in 2029, connected to grid in 2030.
All you need to counter the baseload though is a shit ton of batteries.
It’s doable, but it greatly increases the cost vs just solar. Going that route would still be very competitive price wise when centralized.
Edit: And even the baseload of an SMR might want batteries if there isn’t enough usage overnight, so they can use it during the day rather than building another SMR. So we want batteries regardless.
This is not presently a practical option. That’s why it’s almost never attempted. The best “batteries” we have right now are things like reservoirs with a pump and a dam.
Except it is happening now. It wasn’t happening before.
It happens now in rarefied cases, but in general, it is not a practical option. It doesn’t merely have to be physically possible, it has to be economically competitive.
But it is competitive now, we’ve reached that point. It’s not “rarefied” cases anymore.
Tesla just installed 37GWh of capacity in the past year and recently bumped their capacity to 80GWh, and they’re just one company.
We’re going to start seeing GWh scale batteries now from the likes of Tesla, CATL, BYD and others.
Edit: This is a 15.3 GWh contract - https://www.intersectpower.com/tesla-provides-intersect-power-with-15-3-gwh-of-megapacks-for-solar-storage-projects/
It’s still kinda comparable:
At the lower end of the estimate, at least.
That will probably change for batteries as well as we come up with cheaper options. Lithium Ion ones can be expensive, but don’t take up much space, but when you want grid scale, space isn’t as big an issue. I have a lot of hope for the new Sodium Ion batteries. They’re much cheaper, they just take up more space. Very new tech though.