Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

aurizon t1_iwwu1to wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in US can reach 100% clean power by 2035, DOE finds, but tough reliability and land use questions lie ahead by nastratin

Well, solar panels have not been vandalised in US desert areas. They can be fenced as well. In any event, solar does not atract terrorists and the isolation allows easy access control. The USA has enough desert areas to supply the grid. They do need storage by flow batteries as well as base load nuclear via thorium as well as wind. Some area also suit gravity storage as well. As time goes by these will all emerge as factors. As for losses, there are greater losses and harms from doing nothing and using coal/oil/gas

4

[deleted] t1_iwwux8r wrote

It becomes an extremely attractive target when it's all concentrated in the desert. That's what I'm getting at.

−5

Pretend-Marsupial258 t1_iwx6say wrote

You're really underestimating the size of the desert areas in the US. Like, the Great Basin Desert alone is almost the size of Spain, while the Mojave is larger than Latvia. There's more than enough room for a bunch of solar panels without piling them on top of each other.

6

aurizon t1_iwww37y wrote

well, if we were at war. Perimeter walls and the isolation should work, as well as monitoring for intruders. lots of area.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-united-states

4

cornerblockakl t1_iwx4ghj wrote

Oh, NOW you think walls work. Lol

6

aurizon t1_iwx7jnd wrote

in isolated areas, with zero brush, fences and intruder alarms, people get discouraged

1

Ruthless4u t1_iwxidcr wrote

If someone decides to try and damage these areas they are determined enough not to let a wall or ADT stop them.

If they are serious they will find a way.

−2

ten-million t1_iwwzjk4 wrote

Nuclear power plants are much better targets

4

[deleted] t1_iwwzytq wrote

Nuclear power plants are designed against missile attacks.

−2

ten-million t1_iwx148z wrote

Of course they are. They wouldn’t be the best thing in the world if they weren’t.

0

findingmike t1_iwx7tlz wrote

You do know that the US deserts are massive, right? It's like saying we're concentrating solar in 500k square miles. It's really hard to blow up that much space.

4