[SystemSafety] nuclear energy - disparate policies?

[Jan Sanders]

Hello All,

On 29.10.2013 17:25, Peter Bernard Ladkin wrote:
> On 10/29/13 5:16 PM, Thierry.Coq at dnv.com wrote:
>> I wonder what will happen to Germany with 80% renewables on a very 
>> cold week in winter, with no sun and a high anticyclone. And if it 
>> were to last 10 or 15 days?
> 
> Batteries.
> 
> We'll be able to plug our electric cars into our houses and power them
> until the sun comes out.
I doubt that, even if there is enough storage capacity for 15 days or 
more in car batteries for the whole of Germany. - It would immobilize 
the electric car fleet.
- You cannot force car owners to plug their car into the grid (Unless 
you formally declare a crisis, which has never been done in Germany. 
Enforcement is another problem.).
- The German state is obliged to provide "Daseinsvorsorge". It means 
that the state has to make sure that all citizens receive basic public 
services. Electricity is a basic public service, others for example are 
drinking water, public transportation or health care. Most basic public 
services are provided by private companies, but the state is ultimately 
responsible. That is one of the tasks of German regulating offices for 
these basic public services.
- Without the ability to reliably plug all the electric cars into the 
gird there is little alternative to keeping operational reserves. These 
may be batteries or pump-stations, but also fossil fuel powered plants.
- "Daseinsvorsorge" means that you cannot leave people on their own (no 
car? no electricity!), so IMO on a "very cold week in winter, with no 
sun and a high anticyclone" the gas turbines will most likely be 
running.

> Mitsubishi claims it can do two days already on a full charge. To the
> power companies at the moment,
> that is anathema; the grid infrastructure is not made for it and could
> not cope. But that can change
> too.
The current aim improve German electricity grid infrastructure 
improvement (Engergiewende) aims at reducing the operational reserve. I 
would think that thousands of electic cars coming and going is not 
really going to reduce the need for operational reserve.


> And insulation.
> 
> The family of my heating engineer lives in a house of which the
> heating costs are (he claims) €100
> per year. Biomass energy. And lots of conservation measures. It's not
> for everyone - small rooms;
> recirculated air through filters. But there are sixty-six years in
> which to make it better.
What about industry?



Jan