Power output from that plant will track AZ summer AC loads and offset the need for expensive (gas-fired) peak power - something that nuclear plants cannot provide.
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Why do you think that nuclear power plants can't "load follow". They certainly can. In the USA, because the fraction of our electric energy that comes from nuclear power is about 20%; which is less than the baseload fraction - all our nuclear power plants are run in baseload mode - that is 100% all the time.
However, in France, where the percentage of nuclear power plants exceeds the baseload fraction; some of their plants are run in "load following" mode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_following_power_plant
In France, however, nuclear power plants use load following. French PWRs use "grey" control rods, in order to replace chemical shim, without introducing a large perturbation of the power distribution. These plants have the capability to make power changes between 30% and 100% of rated power, with a slope of 5% of rated power per minute. Their licensing permits them to respond very quickly to the grid requirements.
or
http://www.oecd-nea.org/ndd/reports/2011/load-following-npp.pdf
However for countries with high nuclear shares or desiring to significantly increase renewable energy sources, the question arises as to the ability of nuclear power plants to follow load on a regular basis, including daily variations of power demand.
So the load following capability of nuclear power plants can actually help integrate renewable sources in to the grid.
NOTHING that you said in your post contradicted anything that I said. Yes, I know that the solar power plant mentioned will put out 100 Mw(e) at local noon. However, it will only put out 100 Mw(e) at noon. Let's be generous to the solar plant, and assume that it puts out 100 Mw(e) of power for 6 hours. Therefore, for the day; this solar plant puts out 600 Mw-hours of energy.
Now lets compare that to the large coal or nuclear power plant which puts out 1000 Mw(e) for 24 hours for a total daily energy output of 24,000 Mw-hours. If we take the ratio of the two daily energy outputs, we find that this solar installation puts out only 2.5% of the energy of a large coal or nuclear power plant on a daily basis.
Like most solar proponents, you've become too enamored with what the power plant can do for a short fraction of the day, and can't mathematically integrate the total daily energy output; which is a small percentage of what the more conventional and nuclear power plants can attain.
In noting the laughing figure; those that don't really understand are so easily amused.
PamW
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