No Clean Energy Source Is Marginal in the Quest for Net Zero
Recent advances in geothermal and nuclear power highlight the importance of these technologies to a future net-zero grid, even if wind and solar predominate.
Vapor rises from a cooling tower at the Golfech Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Electricite de France SA (EDF), on the Canal de Golfech in Golfech, France, on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023.
Photographer: Matthieu Rondel/BloombergThis month, two deeply established decarbonization technologies, geothermal and nuclear power, saw new milestones reached. Texas-based Fervo Energy demonstrated its enhanced geothermal technology is feasible at scale , while nuclear fission reactor developer Oklo Inc. announced plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company.
Both developments fuse (no nuclear pun intended) past capabilities with future potential, looking ahead to an energy system of sufficiently great scale that even relatively small technologies are anything but marginal.