Fester,
Although renewable energy supply is erratic, it's predictable. We have (and use) the weather forecasting ability to know what's coming.

We've been doing this on a small scale in SA for over fifteen years now. Most of the problems predicted never eventuated, and those that did were easily solved. Wind and solar supply the majority of our electricity (despite last Friday's unusually low figure of 17.4%), The nation's overdue for a massive expansion.

Nuclear power's an expensive option, and our lack of experience with it makes it even more expensive. The French made it much cheaper by inflating away the construction cost, but I doubt there'd be much support for the kind of economic policies to enable us to do that!

Fifteen years ago the price of wind turbines was high. Ten years ago the price of solar panels was high. But they've become cheaper to manufacture, and we've already reached the stage where it's cheaper than coal (even including the cost of battery firming). Unfortunately for electricity users, doing nothing (so the prices rise more) is the most lucrative option for the power generation companies.

But I'd never suggest you blindly defer to experts, and I'm sure you don't want to take my word for it. So you have two options: The first option is to find out why the experts come to the conclusions they do. Examine the validity of their and your assumptions (and reasoning, but mistakes are far moe re likely to be based on faulty assumptions than faulty reasoning). If your conclusion's not what you'd hoped, at least you'll have learned a lot.

Alternatively you can select the ttbn option: assume anyone you disagree with is an ignorant boofmhead with no knowledge, just ideology. You won't learn anything, but seeing you're right all the time might make you feel better about yourself - though you might be a bit miffed that everyone else is opting for a strategy that's self evidently wrong. But if so, you can find solace in a board full of like minded people (plus a few dissenters you can ignore).

Is Mise,
I think you're conflating tidal power with wave power. They're very different things.

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Canem,
The demand for oil's not going to dry up overnight, and most of the major oil producing countries also have plenty of sunshine.

Thank you Aidan. I hope it does work, but when I look at the graph for power generation by source, I look at the nice even band for coal fired power, then I look at wind and solar and think, "How the hell can we sail on those choppy seas?". On French nuclear power, I have been reading that they have shirked on maintenance for a while and are now striking some problems. Still, a well maintained nuclear reactor could be producing power for more than three times the service life of wind and solar, so I hope the smrs in development prove successful.

Aiden-

Sorry my comment was directed at Armchair Critic's comment-

"Ahh, the 'Prince of Darkness'. I've heard the Neoliberals are now just as bad as the Neoconservatives... I think it's like its own little isolated food chain. Make bombs, Make war and blow people up, Remove them from their land, Build pipelines, Get (oil) - Energy for your society, Sell (oil) Energy for others:
Then use money (profits) and build more bombs...
- Rinse and repeat -"

Aidan,
No confusion, I was talking about tidal power, wave power is indeed different and its peaks and lows are unpredictable.
Fascinating though as the various machines that have been invented to use wave power are unique, especially the ‘kites’.

Is Mise,
Do you have a link for the experimental tidal power generator in Galway Bay? The only info I could find was or a wave powered one.
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Fester,
We've long been coping with fluctuating demand, so why should fluctuating supply of solar and and power faze you?

I think you're underestimating the lifespan of solar and wind infrastructure. But FWIW I too hope the SMRs in development prove successful. However I warn you: even if they prove successful, they're unlikely to prove cheap.

And I forgot to mention last time: those electrolysers to produce hydrogen aren't under 20% efficient; they're over 80% efficient.