Danish reactor physicist. Talking about nuclear energy, the grid, and electricity markets via data visualisations. Nukemaxxer 💯
Denmark
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Fun fact: Sweden has four nuclear reactors that have each generated more electricity than all Danish wind turbines ever.
Forsmark 3 and Oskarshamn 3 started in 1985, the year Denmark banned nuclear. Both still ahead of Denmark’s entire wind fleet.
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Where’s all the cheap electricity we were promised?
Danish wholesale power prices have jumped to much higher levels with far more volatility.
Before the European gas squeeze, prices were low and stable. After it, they remain high with a huge range.
Renewables clearly cannot stabilise the markets. Hard to see any solution that doesn't involve a massive nuclear buildout.
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Danish electricity prices are increasing. The semi-annual average wholesale price has nearly doubled over the last three years, after coming down from the peak of the energy crisis.
Seems like it is not over yet.
But I thought that all that wind and solar energy was supposed to make it cheaper?
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Jens Christiansen retweeted
Vor kurzem stiegen die Temperaturen bedrohlich an, und Deutschland diskutierte über den Stillstand französischer AKWs. Doch NZZ-Daten zeigen: Das eigentliche Problem trat im eigenen Land zutage. In der Hitze schwächelten vor allem Windräder.
«Der andere Blick mit Daten» der @NZZ
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Wind power generation plummets during the massive heatwave in Europe.
Nuclear stays on.
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Jens Christiansen retweeted
Everyone dunking on French nuclear this week while the big red rectangle just sits there doing its job 🫠
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Something about the discourse on French nuclear in this European power crunch is wrong on so many levels.
Europe is in a massive heat wave with very low wind and demand surging from cooling.
Somehow, the headlines that break are the limited amount of nuclear in France that is idle due to river-temperature restrictions.
What is rarely mentioned is that the French nuclear capacity out due to heat is merely 3 GW; just three reactors are affected!
France still generates massive amounts of nuclear throughout this heatwave, keeping the European grid online.
The actual problem and driver of the sky-high electricity prices is: no wind and high demand.
Comparing yesterdays (June 23rd) evening peak demand to the June average reveals a +14% increase.
Wind during summer is generally low, but June 23rd hit critically low levels across the entire EU, with a utilization of merely 8% of the total capacity during the most important peak hours.
Not to mention solar, which of course vanishes every evening, rendering more than 300 GW useless simultaneously.
The news love sensationalising French nuclear as a problem. But in reality, without it, Europe would be in (even more) serious trouble this week.
The wind during a critical heatwave is completely gone, creating a deficit of several 100 GW. But yeah, let’s talk about three French nuclear reactors.
No wonder Europe keeps being trapped in an energy crisis!
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Jens Christiansen retweeted
冷却材 #ナトリウム
現在、日本で稼働している原子炉は、核反応で生じた熱を水でタービンに運び発電をしています。
一方、ナトリウム冷却 #高速炉 は、金属ナトリウムが熱を運びます。
金属ナトリウムは約98℃で液体になり、水と比べて熱を多く運べるという特徴があります。
#大洗原子力工学研究所
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Denmark is often hailed for phasing out coal with wind. But is it true? And is it scalable? Three missing factors tell quite a different story:
1. Heavy reliance on Nordic hydro/nuclear
2. Coal was mainly replaced by wood, not wind
3. The wind build-out has stalled
A thread 🧵
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Denmark did not phase out coal primarily with wind; it phased it out primarily with biomass.
Looking at electricity generation alone doesn't tell the full story. Denmark relies on a large network of combined heat and power plants.
When you include the fuel consumption for both heating and power, it becomes clear that biomass did the heavy lifting. Many coal-fired CHP plants were simply retrofitted to burn biomass instead of coal.
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If you truly want to use Denmark as an example of a frontier country, look at what is happening now.
The build-out of wind has stalled. Since 2023, the net build-out of wind was a mere 38 MW.
Decommissioning of old turbines is catching up with new builds.
The most recently completed 3 GW offshore tender failed to attract a single bidder. There is, however, a 1 GW farm currently under construction that has been underway since 2018, but that is it.
The pace is slow, and there is a long way to go.
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