VC Sarah Guo Seeks Debate on Solar-Battery Versus Nuclear Power for Data Centers
Some users welcomed Sarah Guo's proposed debate on solar-battery versus nuclear power for data centers as much-needed and worth attending, while others dismissed it as unnecessary since renewable limitations are already well known.
No Digg Deeper questions have been answered for this story yet.
Most Activity
before someone @ me, yes I understand that there are cloudy days sometimes and they have different generation profiles and solar might need overbuild/diesel backup etc. that’s the point of the debate
has anyone hosted a debate on solar+batteries vs nuclear for datacenter power generation?
(both would be good, but curious)
@saranormous I think the solar + batteries vs nuclear debate is far less interesting than the grid-connected vs islanded/shadow grid debate
@saranormous The debate might depend more on time horizon than technology.
The best long-term solution isn't always the best next-year solution.
Solar + batteries can scale much faster today.
Nuclear may be the better answer if you're planning infrastructure for the next 30–50 years.
Unless you’re talking about 7-10+ years out this isn’t a debate. Nuclear literally wouldn’t come online in time in nearly any major market that’s building out a ton of data centers ex-China. So for the most interesting period for DCs - next 3-5 years - one side literally won’t contribute from a greenfield site contribution basis.
So, depends on what you’re trying to legitimately ask. Nuclear only relevant for this debate if you’re talking about longer-term power needs (and need to entertain government support to backstop and get the projects built) which is a separate debate about power needs (DCs smaller contributor the further you get out). So if it’s the near term power scarcity argument, better off chasing different avenues.
@saranormous Much-needed. I’d love to attend if one is organized. Can you organize one?
@saranormous There is not much to debate. Limitations on solar and wind as they relate to utility deployment are well known for about a decade (I know, I used to write about it a decade back). You can ask any decent AI any question you want on the subject and you will get decent answers.
@saranormous Solar panels got 10x cheaper. That's not the bottleneck anymore.
Overbuild + batteries are. Most ROI models undercount battery costs.
For grid-scale, that's the math that actually matters.
@saranormous Would imagine cost, speed to power (+ grid connectivity), and reliability are some main points to cover. Would love to see this as well
@saranormous @thenuclearco @JonathanWebbKY
@saranormous on timeline it isnt close? Solar+storage stands up in months at about $25/MWh, nuclear runs $75 and takes a decade. Datacenters need power inside 18 months. Nuclear is a great answer to a demand curve from quite a few years ago
@saranormous What are your views
@saranormous Eventually the constraint won't just be energy, it'll be Runtime Economics, how efficiently that energy turns into business value.
@saranormous Nuclear is underrated for datacenters. Baseload isn't optional and solar+batteries still need diesel backup to cover the gaps.
@saranormous Uranium is underrated for exactly this reason. Renewables can't stand alone for industrial-scale power. Nuclear fills the gap.
@saranormous Honestly it’s probably not even solar+batteries vs nuclear. Datacenters are gonna need both
@saranormous Or combinations of the two.