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Base load is not necessarily an advantage in a future energy system. Lots of solar and wind means there will be times when all the electricity can be provided b
by hannob 9y ago
Base load is not necessarily an advantage in a future energy system. Lots of solar and wind means there will be times when all the electricity can be provided by them. So what's really needed is flexible electricity to complement that.
- ComputerGuru 9y agoAt that point, it's free energy. Are you really complaining? (Yes, I do know power companies must dissipate that somehow, my own even has times whence the realtime pricing drops below zero as incentive. But a solved problem nevertheless.)
- nine_k 9y agoIt's not not free if your power plant is free, too.
- geon 9y agoThe extra energy can be dumped into pumping water up a dam. It is reasonably efficient, at 70-80%. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectric...
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoYes, but excess solar, wind and nuclear can already do that. So introducing a new, so-called "baseload" power supplier doesn't automatically make for good economics, if anything selling it as "baseload" rather than say "cheap" is a bad sign.