In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power Last Month

Solar milestone and regional comparisons

• Discussion centers on solar supplying 22% of EU electricity in June, making it the largest grid source that month.
• Commenters note seasonal cherry‑picking (June vs winter), but still see it as an important inflection point.
• EU is ahead of China and the US by share of electricity from solar, but China produces far more solar energy in TWh.
• Some stress that “power” here really means “grid electricity”, not total energy (heating, transport, industrial fuels).

Intermittency, seasons, and storage

• Strong agreement that summer solar output can be abundant even in “non‑sunny” regions; winter remains hard, especially in northern/overcast climates (e.g. UK roof‑top experience).
• Solutions discussed: overbuilding solar, large grids with transmission, complementarity with wind and hydro, pumped storage, chemical “power‑to‑gas”, and demand shifting (EVs, heat pumps, flexible loads).
• Debate on how much storage is needed: some cite ~30 TWh to 100 TWh globally; others argue this is technically and economically feasible as battery prices and capacity scale rapidly.
• Dunkelflaute (prolonged low sun + wind) is raised; some say existing gas plants can cheaply cover the last few percent, others insist long‑duration storage or firm generation is still a major cost/risk.

Nuclear vs. solar/wind + storage

• Very long, heated debate over whether nuclear should be scaled alongside renewables.
• Pro‑nuclear side: renewables and batteries alone may be too expensive/risky at very high penetration; modest nuclear share (≈10% of energy) could cut storage and overbuild needs and improve system resilience.
• Anti‑nuclear side: new Western nuclear is portrayed as 5–10× more expensive, too slow to build, with negative learning curves and hidden costs (waste, insurance). They argue solar/wind + diverse storage (batteries, pumped hydro, power‑to‑gas) is already cheaper and faster.
• No consensus; multiple participants explicitly call the total‑system cost impact of small nuclear shares and large‑scale storage “unclear”.

Geopolitics, industry, and independence

• Several comments link Europe’s push for renewables to lack of domestic fossil fuels and the Ukraine war; reducing dependence on Russian gas and imported hydrocarbons is seen as strategic.
• Others argue Europe historically leveraged imported fuels to export high‑value manufacturing and services; losing cheap energy is contributing to deindustrialization and high prices, especially in Germany.
• Disagreement over whether Europe has “no energy resources” vs. sizable but politically constrained fossil reserves.

Grid stability, infrastructure, and lifecycle

• Spain’s blackout is discussed: not caused intrinsically by renewables, but by control/protection settings, inverter behavior, and weak grid management; leads to calls for grid‑forming inverters, more inertia services, and smarter networks.
• Transmission build‑out delays are identified as a current bottleneck, sometimes forcing solar to remain local.
• Waste: concerns about end‑of‑life panels and blades vs. arguments that recycling is improving and site cleanup is straightforward; parallel worries about nuclear waste and accident liability.