Predictably unpredictable nuclear outages are regularly irregular occurrences, for a variety of reasons.
Recent Texas event showed how new batteries can be a hedge against sudden wild cards.
From France, another example of heat waves playing havoc with power plant cooling systems.
The 2.6GW Golfech nuclear plant in southern France will cut its electricity production from 31st July until 5th August because of elevated water temperatures in the Garonne River.
EDF, the plant’s operator, announced that the reduction, initially expected to end on 3rd August, might be extended or adjusted based on changes in the weather forecast.
The energy giant said: “The planning and the duration of this reduction for environmental constraints will be modified according to the evolution of the weather forecast.”
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In Texas, the large nuclear plant that tripped suddenly off line last week was fortunately backed by new Battery capacity.
…last week a 1,322 MW unit at the South Texas nuclear facility suddenly tripped due to a fire in the switchyard.
According to Grid Status, which monitors grid operations in the US, the frequency excursion was arrested by a rapid response from the state’s rapidly growing portfolio of big battery projects.
“Immediately, grid frequency declined,” Grid Status noted in a post on LinkedIn and X. “An excursion below critical levels required a fast response by ERCOT to ensure stability of the grid. In this case, ERCOT swiftly deployed ancillary services, including a significant amount of batteries providing ECRS, to boost the frequency back to normal.”
ERCOT is the Electricity reliability Council of Texas, which manages the grid. ECRS refers to the contingency reserve service.
The big batteries were back in action a few days later when one of the state’s coal fired power station units also tripped.
Texas is expected to more than double its battery storage capacity in 2024, adding around 6.4 GW of battery capacity (with varying levels of storage), to the 5.5 GW that existed before.
… And nuclear power, during off peak hours is a great way to charge batteries.
“… And nuclear power, during off peak hours is a great way to charge batteries.”
Well, that was, in fact, why it was cost-effective to build the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant: To make use of the excess energy that those expensive nuclear plants were generating when demand was down overnight.