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Op-ed debunks myth of baseload
By
Steve Boyce
KFTC Chairperson
How many times have you heard “experts”—folks from the coal and energy industries, and even our own legislators—say that people supporting renewable energy may mean well but are misguided since renewables can’t provide “baseload power,” whatever that means. After all, the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t blow all the time.
David Brown Kinloch has written what strikes me as an excellent and very important op-ed aimed at debunking “The Myth of the Baseload.” It’s well worth the read. Find it here.
Part of the reason I think it’s so good is that it explains in understandable terms some of the main challenges of generating and distributing electricity and why the traditional approach to addressing them—reliance on large centralized coal and nuclear generation plants for baseload—is not necessary. Along the way he makes clear the meaning of such terms as baseload, dispatcher and grid, and how current arrangements will have to change for distributed renewable generation to become a substantial part of the generation mix. Rarely if ever have I learned as much from reading an op-ed.
It’s the clarity of his myth busting that makes this piece seem so important. As Brown Kinloch concludes:
Clearly customer load can be met, hour by hour, primarily with renewables, without today’s baseload plants. … The problem here is not the nature of renewable resources or any technical hurdle, but rather it is getting utility planners and dispatchers to think outside the “baseload” mindset that they have been stuck in for so many years. … The need for large, centralized baseload capacity is not some requirement of the electrical power system, but rather a desire to continue to do things as utilities have done in the past, the way they know.
The transition to decentralized, clean power sources is crucial and feasible! And it’s coming! As I said, this op-ed is well worth reading.
Basload offsets
What we need is a balanced supply grid for primary metals industries, heavy assemblies and electric industrial truck recharging, etc. and homes, small businesses on site genned power.
Baseload
First, David has some good ideas, but there is no discussion of cost. It is an issue that must be discussed. It would cost billions of dollars in Kentucky alone to build hydro capacity for example to meet some of our baseload needs. Yes, I said baseload needs.
Second, David does not discuss the capacity factor. Nuclear, coal, biomass, and others are considered baseload power sources because they provide a reliable (constant) source of energy. Some renewables, solar, wind, and hydro are not always considered baseload (varies depending upon location) because they are not always available and thus reliable. Consequently the capacity factor of those energy sources is typically much lower than are more reliable energy sources.
Nuclear and Coal for example might have capacity factors > 90%, whereas wind might be 25%. The lower the capacity factor the less efficient energy source it is with respect to generation and delivery. Delivery is a whole other issue that gets complicated. At any rate, locations like Kentucky simply cannot rely upon renewables to provide all its baseload needs. It just doesn't work regardless of how out of the box thinking one wants to do. That doesn't mean that renewables can not or should not be part of the energy portfolio for a state like KY. They should, they just cannot be the only and primary source.