A load off the clean energy basket

Time and again one comes up against the debate on baseload, how important is it for energy security? Not at all, say experts. The entire US grid could be powered by just wind and solar thermal, they say, challenging the very concept of baseload power, the sort provided by coal and nuclear.

Grids can work perfectly well with a mixture of inflexible supply like wind and flexible supply (solar thermal with storage). Wind is already cheaper than new-built coal in the US, and solar thermal with storage, and used as a peaking plant, will be competitive with peaking gas, they say.

PV also has the same impact as wind. As wind and PV fills up the energy stack (they go first because they have the lowest short run marginal cost), what is needed to complete the requirements is flexible generation. Not coal, they say.

This is seen in South Australia, where wind has provided more than 20 per cent of annual output last year and much higher on occasions. In Germany, where wind and PV capacity amounts to 45GW, Statkfraft has announced this week that it may close two gas-fired power stations, amounting to one gigawatt of capacity, because of this impact.

So what holds up the rest of the world, so unwilling to let go fossil fuel and come clean? Apathy largely.