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The article doesn't address this, but the interactive graphic does: 831 out of 1170 California power plants (71%) are operating at less than 1/3 of capacity.
by stdbrouw 10y ago
The article doesn't address this, but the interactive graphic does: 831 out of 1170 California power plants (71%) are operating at less than 1/3 of capacity.
- Animats 10y agoThat's about normal. The peaking plants shut down off-peak. Last night's California power demand was about 20GW at minimum. Peak today is about 30GW. The historical peak (Jul 24, 2006, hottest day recorded in California, with 38 heat-related deaths[1]), was 50GW. Generating capacity has to be sized for that peak. [1] http://www.caiso.com/outlook/outlook.html http://www.caiso.com/outlook/outlook.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_American_heat_wave https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_American_heat_wave
- stdbrouw 10y agoInitially you mentioned that 47% is fine, now <33% utilization is also fine, okay, but what kind of utilization isn't?
- Animats 10y agoGenerating capacity is needed based on the peak, not the average. On the peak hour of the peak day, you'd like to have 15% more nameplate capacity than you're using. Some stations will be out of service for maintenance, and something may fail. PJM training on this: [1] [1] http://www.screencast.com/t/9qPkoGacrnm http://www.screencast.com/t/9qPkoGacrnm