Unable to read most of the post. That said instead of x vs. y, how about x + y + z? Put all options on the table, deploy them all and let the real world numbers stand on their own. If nuclear + solar gets us away from coal that should be a win and doesn't have to be the only move in the chess game.
AIUI that won't work, because of the cost structures.
Nuclear power has very long planning horizon and the high fixed costs mean that it needs to run fairly near capacity. AIUI you can't run a nuclear plant profitably if it's idle whenever the sun shines, so you could say that deploying nuclear blocks solar. Or put the other way around, letting company X have the option of deploying solar later blocks company Y from building nuclear now.
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[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 18.7 ms ] threadNuclear power has very long planning horizon and the high fixed costs mean that it needs to run fairly near capacity. AIUI you can't run a nuclear plant profitably if it's idle whenever the sun shines, so you could say that deploying nuclear blocks solar. Or put the other way around, letting company X have the option of deploying solar later blocks company Y from building nuclear now.