Well it wasn't me saying that, though it has been said frequently. It is meaningful in normal situations, when you can spin up other sources and what you need i

Well it wasn't me saying that, though it has been said frequently. It is meaningful in normal situations, when you can spin up other sources and what you need is predictability. Another aspect which hasn't been mentioned in terms of availability is the centralised vs distributed aspect. Big thermal plants tend to be off for extended periods for maintenance, whereas PV+wind have thousands of small units. Previously this downtime had been scheduled during winter, but with worse winter storms it might need to happen over summer. PV has been a huge benefit in meeting the AC peak in summer, avoiding the need for huge quantities of diesel backup generation.