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we ’ re creating will enable us to have a huge number of projects , across multiple sites , ready to go as soon as the reactors are approved .
Speed and agility have never been so important . There ’ s a seat at the design table for everyone from plant owners to regulators , to suppliers , AMR vendors , customers , investors and assemblers – everyone involved in the project . Now , for the first time , it ’ s possible to connect these people together using a digital platform , and give them access to all the information on their project .
Advanced fission reactors are heat sources that produce electricity at very high efficiencies and can reliably deliver large amounts of high temperature (> 500 ° C ) steam to industrial end users . Given these attributes and with projected capacity factors of over 90 %, advanced heat source technologies are uniquely suited to support the production of low-cost hydrogen at a global market scale .
Power density is an important additional benefit . While solar PV has a power density of 50 MW per km2 , offshore wind can deliver only 2 MW / km2 . This calculation includes the space between the turbines , to be more realistic .
In contrast , advanced heat sources have a power density of 2,080 MW / km2 : about 500-times greater than solar PV and 1,200-times greater than offshore wind . This is illustrated in the image below , which compares the total area required to replace the UK ’ s current oil consumption with hydrogen generated from either wind , solar , or advanced heat sources .
CAN THEY BE PRODUCED AT SCALE BY 2027 ? A range of advanced heat sources are being demonstrated and commercialised now , such as the TerraPower-GEH Natrium plant , co-funded by Bill Gates and the US DOE , with the goal of being operational by 2027 . However , given the need to convert 5,000-7,000 coal plant units globally between 2030-2050 ( about 250-350 per year ), a streamlined strategy that can meet this rate of deployment will be required .
22 April 2022