Re:Green steel without green hydrogen – can it work?
by jillesvangurp on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @12:06PM
(#30349247)
Grid prices and cost are two things. EU and US grid pricing is dominated by the most expensive things in the market (gas, coal, and nuclear) because once you use up all the cheap supply, people end up bidding for the expensive stuff. So whenever there's a shortage of that, prices go up.
Burning gas costs money. Shutting down or restarting a gas plant costs money too. And a gas plant that is not running still needs upkeep, maintenance, staffing, etc so it costs money. Some operators actually use negative rates to stimulate demand so they can keep their gas plants running and avoid shutting them down. Negative rates of course cost money, so that is added to the overall grid pricing. None of that has anything to do with the cost of renewables.
That same dynamic is also what makes renewable power very lucrative for operators. A low cost and a high market price just means a lot of profit. That's why world+dog is putting up windmills and solar parks as fast as they can. It's just that good of a deal. And of course the subsidies and positive press help.
If you are consuming a lot of power, that difference means investing in your own power generation makes a lot of sense. Which is why many plans for green steel plants involve plans for e.g. wind turbines and other solutions. So, they only buy from the grid when that supply is inadequate and actually supply to the grid when there is enough supply. Yes that's intermittent. But the connection to the grid isn't and the difference is just cost.
Burning gas costs money. Shutting down or restarting a gas plant costs money too. And a gas plant that is not running still needs upkeep, maintenance, staffing, etc so it costs money. Some operators actually use negative rates to stimulate demand so they can keep their gas plants running and avoid shutting them down. Negative rates of course cost money, so that is added to the overall grid pricing. None of that has anything to do with the cost of renewables.
That same dynamic is also what makes renewable power very lucrative for operators. A low cost and a high market price just means a lot of profit. That's why world+dog is putting up windmills and solar parks as fast as they can. It's just that good of a deal. And of course the subsidies and positive press help.
If you are consuming a lot of power, that difference means investing in your own power generation makes a lot of sense. Which is why many plans for green steel plants involve plans for e.g. wind turbines and other solutions. So, they only buy from the grid when that supply is inadequate and actually supply to the grid when there is enough supply. Yes that's intermittent. But the connection to the grid isn't and the difference is just cost.