Compare power sources
Pick a metro and a power source. See how it stacks up against nuclear on land use, deployment time, CO₂, and units required — adjusted for that metro's local sun, wind, and hydro resources.
Local resource profile: U.S. national average renewable resource conditions.
Powering New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY-NJ · 144.8 TWh/yr
662 solar farms vs 16 Large Reactor (1,117 MWe, AP1000 class)
utility-scale solar pv requires 30× more land than nuclear for the same annual energy.
Utility-scale solar PV
Units required
662 × 100 MW
Capacity factor (here)
25%
Total nameplate
66.2 GW
Land use
621 sq mi
CO₂ (annual)
Zero
Capex (rough)
$53.0B–$92.7B
Deployment
1–3 yr per project
Variable output; firm-equivalent power requires 2.5–4× more capacity plus storage (NREL).
Nuclear: Large Reactor (1,117 MWe, AP1000 class)
Reactors required
16 × 1117 MW
Capacity factor
93%
fleet-wide U.S. nuclear avg
Total nameplate
17.9 GW
Land use
20.8 sq mi
CO₂ (annual)
Zero (operational)
Capex (rough)
$125.1B–$268.1B
wide band reflects FOAK delivery uncertainty
Deployment
7–12 yr per reactor
longer than alternatives — biggest tradeoff
For the full grid mix, cost bands, and CO₂ math for this metro: New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY-NJ →
Methodology & sources: methodology page