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Why do you place solar with peak-load technologies like gas? The point of peak load plants, and why they charge a premium, is that they can ramp up output when

Why do you place solar with peak-load technologies like gas? The point of peak load plants, and why they charge a premium, is that they can ramp up output when there is sudden demand. Solar does not have that ability, just like coal and wind.

jdeibele 10y ago
Guessing because the peak-load for electricity tends to coincide with very hot days. So lots of demand for air conditioning but the solar panels are also generating maximum capacity.
- Tharkun 10y ago
  Not entirely true. PV panels perform better on cold sunny days than on hot sunny days. Semiconductors and heat are still no match made in heaven...
kuschku 10y ago
The peak demand for electricity is around the afternoon of the day, and it gets higher the hotter the day is. Which is exactly where solar is available – it can’t deal with 100% of the peak load, but it can take about three quarters of the market for peak load techniques.
jseliger 10y ago
That's true for now, but it'll be interesting to see what happens as battery prices come down. There's also an interesting synergy between used car batteries and home storage: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-second-life-electric-car-batteries/ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3775606/used-sec... or http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/bmw-energy-storage/ http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/bmw-energy-storage/.