[yodelshady]

Yes, I have some numbers. Wholesale electricity costs since 2020 have repeatedly exceeded 700 - SEVEN HUNDRED - Euros per MWh (1). Because it was dark and still, a condition every single European in the last ten thousand years has known to exist. That's your number.

I won't ask you what impact you think that has on, say, steelmaking, because I've lived it. I've picked the tenders and the Euro steel was not competitive with Chinese steel if it was free, due to uncertainty in delivery date.

China spent approx 2x Hinkley Point on nuclear. It has 30 GW of capacity in return. That works in winter. I would do nasty things to get that for my country.

(1) Naturally, French nuclear is literally not allowed to access this price, and must sell at 45. Because FREE MARKET.

[OKRainbowKid]

I don't see how your numbers (for which a source and some additional context would be appreciated) support your original point ("solar in Germany makes no sense").

As an actual counterpoint, please consider this recent study by Fraunhofer ISE [1], which provides average generation costs for various types of power plants. Even with current battery prices, large scale PV plants supported by battery systems are significantly cheaper than coal, gas and nuclear plants -- and this advantage is expected to increase with falling prices of both battery storage and PV systems.

[1] https://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/press-releases/...

[greenavocado]

There is a gigantic difference in solar irradiation between winter and summer

https://weatherspark.com/d/148124/12/22/Average-Weather-on-D...