From Leap1:
“Nuclear-Powered France” includes what 20% fossil fuels.
No. The big three fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) combined make up about 9% of the electricity production. See numbers below from the IEA. Both the pre-pandemic 2019, as well as 2020, are shown as the latest years available. Amounts are in gigawatt-hours for the year listed.
France 2019 2019 2020 2020
Amount Percent Amount Percent
Coal 5873 1.0 5067 1.0
Oil 5914 1.0 5266 1.0
Nat Gas 39,314 6.9 35,203 6.6
Biomass 6471 1.1 6496 1.2
Waste 4575 0.8 4461 0.8
Nuclear 399,012 69.9 353,833 66.5
Hydro 61,573 10.8 66,708 12.5
Tide 479 0.1 482 0.1
Wind 34,722 6.1 40,704 7.6
Solar 12,225 2.1 13,579 2.6
Other 558 0.1 508 0.1
Geotherm 128 0.0 128 0.0
------ ---- ------ ----
Total 570,844 100 532,435 100
https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-browser?country…
Some of those fossil fuels are used on islands such as Corsica and other remote areas that may not be connected to the French power grid.
Leap1:
Germany’s Renewables includes a huge amount of coal for this comparison."
That is a great description of how the intermittent renewables need to be backed up with fossil fuel generation, or some other kind of reliable dispatchable power. For a power grid to remain stable, the amount of power generated must always be exactly balanced with the amount of power being consumed at any given time. This is why dispatchable power is so important, so the grid operator can raise or lower production as conditions change throughout the day. The intermittent renewables are pretty much useless for that kind of service, which is needed 24 hours a day.
Leap1:
Let me ask you for a disclaimer, if you are collecting or inline to collect or have stock in electric company(s) with nuclear power production please say so…LOL although it is very obvious who butters your toast.
I wish!
Message to the nuclear power industry:
Hey nuclear power guys -
Where are you sending my checks?! I’m not getting them. Maybe we can set up some kind of direct deposit into my bank account? Please contact me.
- Pete