Time is running out on the climate, how many decades can we wait for the “perfect” solution to show up when we have a good enough one right now they can help?

They could. Someday.

Nuclear can, now.

How long will it take for us to get good enough batteries?

Including the time to manufacture and install them at utility scales (we are talking powering an entire nation out of batteries for hours), way more than a decade.

Batteries are already being installed on grids but they can only help so much smooth out power delivery. They are very very far from having the ability to completely take over an entire grid.

Germany has tons of solar and winds and yet it is pretty common to have neither (windless nights) at which point the entire grid needs to be powered by non renewables. That’s a lot of standby power.

No it doesn’t. Cheap solar is great but even if it was $0, you’d still need some other tech to provide electricity when the sun is down. So it’s either gas, batteries, nuclear, etc. but you can’t just use solar alone.

And until batteries get good enough, nuclear is the cleanest option we have.