This is already the case. Gas plants take very little time to start up and shutdown. Combining thermal storage with the solar plant allows it to act as more of

This is already the case. Gas plants take very little time to start up and shutdown. Combining thermal storage with the solar plant allows it to act as more of a base load power system. I would guess the goal is allowing utility companies to decommission more costly intermittent plants with solar replacements. While not exciting this weekend the link shows a graph of Ontario's electricity supply mix. During the week you can see the variations in gas plant performance, from no work output to full work output within an hour. http://media.cns-snc.ca/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelectricity.html http://media.cns-snc.ca/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelectricit...