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A comment on New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutting Coal. Parent comment

Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by maxerickson on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @09:40AM (#11628219)
When you call coal baseload (I assume this is what you intended with baseless), you are contrasting it with dispatchable generation. Coal isn't nearly as responsive as hydro or natural gas or whatnot.

The difference between solar and coal is that the output of coal is more reliable.

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Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by barney54 on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @09:55AM (#11628344)
No. According to the US Energy Information Administration, coal is dispatchable. https://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm

It is correct that coal does not ramp up or down quickly, but that is not a characteristic of dispatchablilty.

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Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by rhino369 on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @02:14PM (#11630381)
There are varying levels of dispatch-ability. You can ensure coal is on. And you can also turn it off. You just can't do it near instantaneously.

It's exists between something like nuclear (which has to just be on for months at a time) and natural gas peaker plants (which turn off and one during the day to meet demand.

You could, for example, run coal plants during the winter (when there is little sun) and not during the summer. Or you could run coal on cloudy days. Or just turn it off on weekends.

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