OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
it's been approximately one month since my last one of these so I figured it was time to post again.
- Darlington Unit 3 finished refurbishment 6 months early. The unit has been undergoing low power (1%) testing and on the 19th of June, the regulatory hold point 3 was removed, allowing the unit to ramp up to 35% power:
- Bruce Unit 2, after returning from an outage, hit 836MWe on the 21st, which is the highest any Bruce A unit (originally 750MWe) has ever gone. This is still at 92.5% full power, as the units are thermally constrained due to regulation:
Via some crude calculation, this means the unit is capable of ~904MWe, a 150MW increase in capacity.
- There have been multiple calls for the Ford government to start construction on new CANDU units in the province. We have a 4,800MW site license at Darlington which we'll barely touch with the 4x BWRX-300 units planned to be constructed there. Calls for 4x new CANDU 9 (EC9?) units have been made. There is also talk of development of the Wesleyville site, which I've mentioned in previous updates.
And the last couple of days has really highlighted the critical role Ontario's nuclear fleet provides.
This morning, wind output had been in the double digits for more than 24hrs, producing 35MW of 5,000. On top of that, hydro output is low this year, it has been dry, and this appears to be impacting Quebec as well. What this means is that Ontario is running gas capacity to not only cover for its lack of wind, but also for export, feeding Quebec and the northern US. Quebec was also importing from New York. Since it was overcast, solar output was at about 50%, which of course also had to be covered for by gas.
This is what this looked like, and this is a low demand Saturday:
Despite Pickering being down Unit 4 (it's back now), which had not returned from its spring maintenance break yet, it managed to out-produce our 5GW wind fleet by almost 3x:
As we enter the summer, the difference will be even more stark, as wind output continues to decline. We've hit a two-week low of 6.87% before, in 2019.
The case for no further investment in wind in the province is clear, while the investment in more publicly owned nuclear being a necessity is obvious if we intend to reduce gas usage.
- Darlington Unit 3 finished refurbishment 6 months early. The unit has been undergoing low power (1%) testing and on the 19th of June, the regulatory hold point 3 was removed, allowing the unit to ramp up to 35% power:
Letter to Ontario Power Generation regarding Regulatory Hold Point 3 – Darlington Unit 3 - Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is an independent federal government agency that regulates the use of nuclear energy and material to protect health, safety, security and the environment and to respect Canada&rsquo:s international commitments on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca
- Bruce Unit 2, after returning from an outage, hit 836MWe on the 21st, which is the highest any Bruce A unit (originally 750MWe) has ever gone. This is still at 92.5% full power, as the units are thermally constrained due to regulation:
Via some crude calculation, this means the unit is capable of ~904MWe, a 150MW increase in capacity.
- There have been multiple calls for the Ford government to start construction on new CANDU units in the province. We have a 4,800MW site license at Darlington which we'll barely touch with the 4x BWRX-300 units planned to be constructed there. Calls for 4x new CANDU 9 (EC9?) units have been made. There is also talk of development of the Wesleyville site, which I've mentioned in previous updates.
Electrifying Ontario’s Economy
bot.com
And the last couple of days has really highlighted the critical role Ontario's nuclear fleet provides.
This morning, wind output had been in the double digits for more than 24hrs, producing 35MW of 5,000. On top of that, hydro output is low this year, it has been dry, and this appears to be impacting Quebec as well. What this means is that Ontario is running gas capacity to not only cover for its lack of wind, but also for export, feeding Quebec and the northern US. Quebec was also importing from New York. Since it was overcast, solar output was at about 50%, which of course also had to be covered for by gas.
This is what this looked like, and this is a low demand Saturday:
Despite Pickering being down Unit 4 (it's back now), which had not returned from its spring maintenance break yet, it managed to out-produce our 5GW wind fleet by almost 3x:
As we enter the summer, the difference will be even more stark, as wind output continues to decline. We've hit a two-week low of 6.87% before, in 2019.
The case for no further investment in wind in the province is clear, while the investment in more publicly owned nuclear being a necessity is obvious if we intend to reduce gas usage.