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.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      1 day ago

      If there’s any excess capacity (solar/wind/geothermal/nuclear/coal/natural gas), batteries extend it’s usefulness and help manage any peaks better and can help you avoid building another generation facility for peak times. It also takes much less land than solar and with SMRs can in theory be brought much closer to population centers reducing transmission losses.

      Edit: 300mw of solar would be between 1,500 and 3,000 acres of land. 300mw SMR could be as low as 10-20 acres.

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        2·
        1 day ago

        300mw of solar would be between 1,500 and 3,000 acres of land. 300mw SMR could be as low as 10-20 acres.

        In that context, it may still be better to plan for solar panels on all roofs in new developments.

        Just taking one example of Whitby, Ontario, which only has a population of around 140,000. Using a quick and dirty measurement of the developed area from the waterfont to Taunton Rd., there’s over 12,000 acres of area used up by mostly homes and other buildings (schools, retail, etc.).

        You may not even need to have EVERY roof covered to meet the demands of a municipality like that. This makes it even more compelling because you have room to expand the capacity, if needed. And it still comes with the benefit of having multiple redundancies, being self-sustainable, offering residents free or extremely low-cost electricity (or even be paid to put energy back into the grid!), etc.

        Anyway, this fantasy is unlikely to happen in Ontario. LOL