From: stephen@sprunk.org

On 14-Apr-14 13:17, bob wrote:
> In a nuclear (or big steam) plant, the actual power output can be
> reduced by throttling steam and dumping it straight to the condenser
> rather than sending it through the turbine, but this is not really
> an ideal way of running things.

... because you're essentially throwing away free money.

> In an ideal world, you would have a system like Switzerland, where
> there is nuclear power to cover the baseload and hydro/pumped storage
> to manage the peaks.  That, however, requires the kind of geography of
> Switzerland, that few other countries can manage.

Pumped storage is _cheaper_ when you have mountains to work with, but
you can build it anywhere with a decent water source.  Find (or build) a
lake on the surface, drill down a few thousand feet and excavate a
cavern.  Let the water fall down during the day and pump it back up at
night.  Go deep enough and you might get some "free" geothermal power too.

Heck, if you excavate _two_ caverns at different depths, you don't have
to worry about evaporation, contamination or NIMBYs complaining about
you messing up their lake.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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