Wind VS Nuclear

Nuclear vs. Renewable: Drawbacks?
NUCLEAR VS WIND
NUCLEAR
Scalability
· Bigger is better
· Unsuited for small scale
Cost
· Significant finiancial risk
· Large upfront expense
· Higher operating costs
· Somewhat higher fuel costs
WIND ENERGY
Intermittency (Wind blows, the turbine will therefore spin and create energy.)
· Low Capacity Factor (33%) actual energy produced is 100% but due to its low capacity factor, instead of producing 300 megawatts, it only produces 100 megawatts per hour. Depending on the location, the national average would be 33%. Needs to build 3 more in order to produce the same amount as the Nuclear Energy does.
· Requires excess capacity
Wind Energy Storage
· Expensive and inefficient (We are unable to predict the demand for electricity and when the wind blows, energy can’t be immediately used. Hence, that energy will have to be wasted or discarded. Method: Store excess energy and keep it stored till a higher demand. We don’t have a way to store this energy yet.
· Intractable on this scale
· Not reliable
Grid integration
· Good up to a point (~20%) Without any form of storage, 20% can be provided by wind without sacrificing reliability and cost effectiveness.
· Then increasingly expensive ( More and more expensive to integrate the wind into the grid without any energy storage, as the amount of integration increases, we will need more and more capacity, and end up in wasting more and more energy during low demand.

References:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaqALIaI6E&feature=related