[vmp]

As far as I (with only an semi-educated opinion) can tell, renewable energy doesn't come with the steady output a nuclear plant provides. Either its not sunny enough (sudden cloud formations, bad weather) for solar panels or the wind calms so that wind turbines don't work. Another issue is location, in my country (Germany) we have wind parks in the northern regions but the providers are having difficulties directing the power to where it's needed [citation needed].

[jaekwon]

Geothermal is available all the time. I'd like to read about what kind of difficulties they're experiencing directing power. Maybe it's a political problem, not a physical one.

[fleitz]

Renewable is up there with nuclear for base load generation if one is not dumb about it, and it can be spooled up faster than nuclear because it doesn't depend on heat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam