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Why then, would they shut down a wind turbine rather than a gas turbine. There was no point in the last year where gas turbines were not supplying power. If wh
by tyho 6y ago
Why then, would they shut down a wind turbine rather than a gas turbine. There was no point in the last year where gas turbines were not supplying power.
If what you say is true, then the grid is being run in a more carbon intensive way than necessary. Why would this be?
- throwaway2245 6y agoMy guess: When the spot price of electricity turns negative (or low enough that is not covering costs), a wind turbine can put on the brakes immediately, whereas a gas turbine might prefer to accept some loss.
- mrow84 6y agoBecause, as qayxc intimated with "Contrary to conventional power sources", it is more expensive to turn gas turbines off and on again than it is wind turbines. Price will dictate action in a marketplace, so sufficient incentives need to be introduced to motivate greener supply.
- diroussel 6y agoThis is correct. And the costs are built into the contract. Wind and hydro dams are very easy to control. Gas is quite easy to control. Coal costs more to start and stop, but nuclear nearly changes in output over the course of a week. Nuclear is tuned to output the base load, the level below which demand never drops. Then the other sources are layered on top. For the situations where all power sources are at max output and there is still not enough power, then the UK will pull power from France. This typically happens when East Enders (TV Soap Opera) finished and millions of people turn on the kettle (high powered water heaters of 2 or 3 kW).
- peterbraden 6y agoBecause gas and other fossil fuels are inelastic - it's expensive to turn them off or on, and it can't be done rapidly. The fact that wind can be turned on or off at will means they can be used to balance demand spikes.