Detox. Today, 45 wind turbines do not equal the power of a nuclear reactor

On France Inter, Jean-Luc Mélenchon reiterated its wish to phase out nuclear power by 2050, and insisted in particular on wind power. ” I will give a simpler example, a nuclear reactor is 45 offshore wind turbines “. A statement considered fanciful by many commentators.

In France, nuclear reactors have powers between 900 and 1,450 megawatts. For offshore wind turbines, the standard power is currently 6 megawatts. But as they do not always operate at full power, we must take into account what is called the load factor, i.e. the ratio between the energy produced over a period, and the maximum energy that could have been be produced if it had been operating at maximum power. By taking an average load factor of 40% for wind power, and 70% for nuclear power, we arrive at more than 250 wind turbines for a 900 megawatt reactor.

Asked by Désintox, the entourage of Jean-Luc Mélenchon let it be known that the candidate evoked the offshore wind turbines of the future, which could display a power of 20 megawatts, with a load factor of 60% or 65%, close to that of nuclear .

This allows him to say that 45 wind turbines will produce the equivalent of a nuclear reactor. A calculation which is not false … but remains, for the moment, theoretical. What the declaration of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in the present tense, hardly allowed us to understand.

Find Detox Monday to Thursday, on the show 28 minutes on Arte, presented by Elisabeth Quin.
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