According to the data gathered on energy-charts.info, the first half of 2023 saw the lowest production of electricity by fossil fuels since 2015. With 387 TWh (31.7% of load) from conventional sources it surpassed the previous low for a first half year of 400.9 TWh (32.1%) in 2020 by nearly 14 TWh or 3.5%.
At the same time renewables provided for more power than ever with 519.3 TWh providing 42.6% of the load.
Other records for a first half year in 2023 (see the bottom of the energy-charts page):
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lowest nuclear power production
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lowest fossil peat production
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lowest load
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highest pumped hydro usage (consumption+production)
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highest offshore wind production (23.922 TWh)
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highest onshore wind production (195.399 TWh)
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highest solar power production (98.698 TWh)
This marks a notable shift towards green energy compared to the first half of 2022: renewables increased from 488.8 TWh in the first half of 2022 to 519.3 TWh in the first half this year, while fossil fuels decreased from 475.3 TWh to 387 TWh.
Not the one you are asking but:
Why does battery technology not exist? It seems to be increasingly in use?
As for the question: a fairly good overview on balancing options and the challenges in decarbonizing the energy system is offered in the 6th assessment report by working group 3 of the IPCC (PDF). See Box 6.8 on page 675, which lists an overview on balancing options, where nuclear power is one of many:
Given the wealth of technological options and developments, why narrow down the view on a single solution and pretend that it is the only one?
Hey thanks for good DD.
I was being cheeky about battery tech since it is not a solution currently available for country level deployment.
I am sure batteries will get better within our life times, nothing against the tech. But it does need investment and development before it should.be sold as a solution to today’s problems.