Renewables suffer from intermittency … production depends on whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining … and they can’t be ramped up quickly to cope with increased demand. So you need a baseline source to take care of that and the only options we have are fossil fuel or nuclear.
Baseload generation can be ramped up or down, yes. But, can’t be ramped up or down fast enough to meet variations in daily demand. You can’t slow it down fast enough in the evening to follow the drop off as everyone goes to bed. You can’t speed it up fast enough in the morning as everyone wakes up and gets to work.
You have to keep it running at a nearly constant output level.
Generators that can be ramped up and down fast enough to match the demand curve are known as “peaker plants”. Baseload plants are extremely efficient; peakers are much less efficient. Baseload plants use a few, giant steam turbines. Peakers typically use a large number of small, gas turbines, or even reciprocating engines.
Actually, they just can’t be ramped, neither fast nor slow. What is done is just wasting part of the (heat)-energy that is produced. If you want to utilize NPPs you need storage, just like with renewables but more expensive to build.
You need some way of matching generation and consumption. “Peaker plants” and “Storage” are the typical answers, but they are not the only ones available.
We currently operate primarily on a “supply shaping” model, where we assume consumers are going to use whatever they want, whenever they want, and we adjust our production to match. They will pay a fixed price per kWh, without regard to the effects of their load on the grid. Responsibility for matching is entirely on the supplier.
We could shift our focus toward a “demand shaping” model, where we incentivize some of our (large, industrial) customers to go offline during peak hours, or switch to off-peak schedules to raise the base load.
Renewables suffer from intermittency … production depends on whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining … and they can’t be ramped up quickly to cope with increased demand. So you need a baseline source to take care of that and the only options we have are fossil fuel or nuclear.
Ireland outlawed nuclear in 1999. Not a NATO member quite famously too
Nuclear can’t be ramped up quickly either, as you said it’s the stable baseline
I’m guessing that it can be ramped up ahead of time, the grid will know when peak demands are during the day and during special events.
Baseload generation can be ramped up or down, yes. But, can’t be ramped up or down fast enough to meet variations in daily demand. You can’t slow it down fast enough in the evening to follow the drop off as everyone goes to bed. You can’t speed it up fast enough in the morning as everyone wakes up and gets to work.
You have to keep it running at a nearly constant output level.
Generators that can be ramped up and down fast enough to match the demand curve are known as “peaker plants”. Baseload plants are extremely efficient; peakers are much less efficient. Baseload plants use a few, giant steam turbines. Peakers typically use a large number of small, gas turbines, or even reciprocating engines.
Actually, they just can’t be ramped, neither fast nor slow. What is done is just wasting part of the (heat)-energy that is produced. If you want to utilize NPPs you need storage, just like with renewables but more expensive to build.
You need some way of matching generation and consumption. “Peaker plants” and “Storage” are the typical answers, but they are not the only ones available.
We currently operate primarily on a “supply shaping” model, where we assume consumers are going to use whatever they want, whenever they want, and we adjust our production to match. They will pay a fixed price per kWh, without regard to the effects of their load on the grid. Responsibility for matching is entirely on the supplier.
We could shift our focus toward a “demand shaping” model, where we incentivize some of our (large, industrial) customers to go offline during peak hours, or switch to off-peak schedules to raise the base load.
You can’t force the wind to blow or the sun to shine. Hydroelectric is different.