Up on the dam, almost everything that looks like a problem becomes an advantage.
The plant sits above the fog line, in thin, clear air that lets far more sunlight through.
The higher you go, the stronger and cleaner the sunlight becomes.
Cold actually helps, because solar panels work more efficiently when they are not baking in heat.
And then there is the snow, which acts like a giant mirror, bouncing extra light up onto the panels from below.
Scientists call it the albedo effect, and it can lift a mountain plant’s output well beyond anything possible in the valley.
A test site at a similar height recorded yearly output far above a typical Swiss plant.
So you’re happy to go without power after sunset then?
Until we have more storage options or diversified sources then that’s what you get. Or do you think it will all happen by magic?
Maybe try being less rude unless you have a solution that doesn’t just involve wishful thinking.
Wait till they find out about batteries!
Ffs this is exactly what I mean… To power Switzerland for only 6 hours (38GWh), you would need approximately 30,000 to 35,000 utility-scale batteries. Where and how exactly are you building them?
Must solve all problems at the same time for entire country, can’t possibly wind things down while building up alternatives. Only good solution is nuclear, ignore all previous nuclear issues, they were one offs that only happened because people were stupid. We now smart humans will never have stupid or corrupt people.
Really I don’t even dislike nuclear, some people treat it as the only option when there are clearly alternatives, and solar and batteries appears to be one.
Not a problem if you have your own panels and your own battery.
I’m not a city planner so i dont know where they’d go if you want to support the whole country, maybe ask one of them?
Also, you don’t need to immediately take over the electricity of the whole damn country. Just start with one battery park somewhere, that already helps somewhat, and build out from there.
Supply controlled energy grid.
Money is extremely good at influencing energy demand. If your power bill increases tenfold per kwh at night then you will do your laundry during the day when it’s cheap. It only requires smart electric meters which are starting to be the norm.
Electric cars can further function as home batteries if they support bidirectional charging.
Ah yes, the abstinence technique. Brilliant.
I for one like the ability to heat my home at night in the winter, not have it be >30°C inside in the summer (system has to catch up at night), keep my living space at a reasonable humidity, cook food, and use modern amenities without incurring a ridiculous cost.
There’s no other way to cut it. We will need more electrical capacity than today, not less.
Why would you be heating at night?
Like seriously, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t turn their heating significantly down before going to bed. You only need to heat the bedrooms which are also generally colder.
Same with air conditioning. It’s primarily needed when it’s actually hot, which - as it turns out - is when the sun is shining and energy prices are low.
Besides: It completely ignores decentralized energy storage. Households with batteries can just let them charge when energy prices are low and discharge when prices are high.
There’s a reason smart meters are starting to be mandated. People will need to adjust their habits slightly¹ but that’s just the price to pay for sustainable energy.
¹Like very slightly. As in checking the energy price forecast before doing laundry.
Edit: A couple basic introductions to the topic to read up on if you’re interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter (also read up on AMI) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid