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"As the numbers from the past 20 years show, renewables do not require more volumes of gas (MWh) for the system to be balanced (they may require more gas-fired
by belorn 4y ago
"As the numbers from the past 20 years show, renewables do not require more volumes of gas (MWh) for the system to be balanced (they may require more gas-fired capacity (MW), but that’s not the same thing - gas turbines are manufactured in Europe)."
This is a fact noted, but it includes an additional aspect. If there is a need for more gas-fired capacity, that burn less volumes of gas, then that operation still need to be paid. The way that works in Sweden is called reserve energy, which mean the plant get paid twice. First they get paid through subsidies in order to keep the plant operational and staffed, and then they get paid a second time when the plant is burning gas and the spot price is at the highest point. This is quite expensive.
Sadly I rarely see people actually account for this cost, and the article does not.
- guerby 4y agoGas turbine are the cheapest electricity generator to build, only expensive to operate due to fuel cost. That's why people don't mention overbuilding gas2power capacity. Data from: https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/powerplants/capitalcost/pdf/capital_cost_AEO2020.pdf https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/powerplants/capitalcost...
- belorn 4y agoFor now at least, those plants are not operated or maintained by robots. You need employees and people to be there even if they are not generating any power, and they need to be "warm" if they are to get online quick. The case examples in that link assume constant running. One could simply take the Fixed O&M times the effect and assume that (in combination with investment costs) to be the subsidies required to keep the plant in stand-by, through a constant operated plant is not the same as one that is standing by for most the time. None of the examples you linked has that kind of operation.