4 ms·
LCOE is a poor measure of whether something can deliver baseload power cost effectively because it assumes all MWh are created equal. What would make it clear
by 666lumberjack 7y ago
LCOE is a poor measure of whether something can deliver baseload power cost effectively because it assumes all MWh are created equal.
What would make it clear whether solar + battery at this proportion is a viable source of baseload power is output volatility figures for a few years of operation (though one year would probably give a reasonable indication).
Tangent: The industry has a metric, availability factor, to describe what proportion of the time a plant can supply energy - but conventionally it only considers maintenance-related downtime and ignores periods where no energy is produced because of lack of 'fuel', giving figures of 99 and 100% availability for wind and solar respectively. That needs to change if we're going to measure whether renewables can provide suitable baseload power. The alternative, capacity factor, doesn't ignore periods of no generation in the same way, but it penalises dispatchable sources for having excess capacity so it's not great either.
- adrianN 7y agoMost power plants we use today can't deliver baseload cost effectively if you add in the externalized costs of climate change.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago>Most power plants we use today can't deliver baseload cost effectively if you add in the externalized costs of climate change. Like it or not tacking on the cost of climate change to power generation is so far from current reality that adding that hypothetical constraint is meaningless. The people making these decisions have real tangible costs that matter right now that they will prioritize in their comparison.
- nicoburns 7y agoI'm not so sure about this. I wouldn't be surprised to see European countries introducing carbon taxes soon.
- 666lumberjack 7y agoTrue, and I'd like to see this corrected with carbon pricing ASAP. My point is simply that whether or not intermittent renewables can ever cost-effectively deliver baseload power is still an open question.
- perl4ever 7y agoWhy do you think those costs are less than the existing taxes, or greater than what anyone could pay? Talking about externalities means you have a rough idea of a number, which is not "infinity". What do you think it is?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]