It’s too hard! Can you tell us?

All true. A few problems facing increasing renewable penetration:

Lack of grid capacity. The national grid operator (REN) has stated there is not enough capacity currently, or in the planned grid expansions, to meet the countries renewable targets.

Rising opposition to projects. Many projects are facing strong local opposition, for example the the 1gw project in Santiago do Cacém which has seen strong resistance from local organisations set up to oppose it.

Environmental protections. They are important and needed, but Portugal has very strong laws here and it is a big obstacle to renewable development.

Cork trees. Cork trees are worshipped, its even difficult to clear sapplings that are of no value or importance. It makes large swathes of land uneconomical for renewable development.

Despite the above, which (except for cork trees) aren’t unique to portugal, the country is doing well. It will be interesting to see the stats in the coming dryer years, as you say.

Yes! I had totally forgotten about the instant pang of shock and anger I would feel when that happened.

Not sure I agree with you that it was that bad, but I love the strength of your reaction.

You chose to write it on the internet. I didn’t expect you to get upset at a basic question.

All I wanted to know was how they stopped you when other people were allowed to wear political clothing. I’m not implying anything.

So what stopped you wearing your BLM shirt?

I suspect there will now be a criminal investigation into manslaughter charges against the management. There was a lot of concerning evidence around your point during the trial but it is a process. The innaction that facilitated these murders sound like an absolute shambles.

Modern designs can also do load-following power.

I think this is a maybe in terms of what the grid needs. Will be great if nuclear is built that genuinely supports system demands.

Diversity makes a healthy grid.

Couldn’t agree more.

Not sure about the 100% point but you will certainly need long term storage which is an unsolved problem. A point I wanted to make was that with enough renewables installed you have the baseload. You would also have an excess of production at peak times that would be useful to store long term.

My personnal view is that a sensible energy mix should have some nuclear but I don’t think it is the key to solving our future energy requirements and should be minimal as it isn’t good value.

You will need long term storage in both cases. Nuclear can’t act as a peaker because you can’t quickly ramp up or down the generation. Nuclear can only perform as baseload which, in theory, could be provided by a renewable energy mix if the install base is high enough.

I don’t disagree with your point that it isn’t a simple direct comparison but any sensible energy mix will still require storage. I find it difficult to see the economic case for nuclear if renewables can be installed in sufficient quantities, given that nuclear is roughly 4 times as expensive as solar and wind.

It is shameful and embarrassing where we have ended up as a country. I really hope, for everyone’s sake in this country, that a new government can turn things around improving the quality of public discourse in the process. It’s a big ask.

Let us know how you get on

Yeah… they’ve been standard for years now. I believe the uplift on a fixed tilt array on grass is approx 5 to 10%.