That’s a good point. I wonder what the probability of all other renewables being knocked offline at the same time is, though. For some areas, you might need >50% nuclear for a higher baseline but that can probably be a lot lower e.g. in the desert, where the sun is more consistent. It does depend on how the whole grid is set up. Maybe 20% on average is plenty alongside wind, solar, hydro, wave, hydrogen(?), new storage methods, and whatever new production tech comes out.
That’s a good point. I wonder what the probability of all other renewables being knocked offline at the same time is, though. For some areas, you might need >50% nuclear for a higher baseline but that can probably be a lot lower e.g. in the desert, where the sun is more consistent. It does depend on how the whole grid is set up. Maybe 20% on average is plenty alongside wind, solar, hydro, wave, hydrogen(?), new storage methods, and whatever new production tech comes out.
China is building out their grid to link areas with high renewable capacity and areas with high demand.
80 percent is usually the point where the need for storage goes from fairly minimal to exponential increases e.g 5 hours storage to 3 weeks in the US according to modelling - https://news.uci.edu/2018/02/27/wind-and-solar-power-could-meet-four-fifths-of-u-s-electricity-demand-study-finds/