CEO’s Message – August 2024

The Difference Between Baseload & Intermittent Power & Why It Matters

I love the idea of summer — beach vacations, camping, picnics, and the occasional ice cream cone. But when the temperatures become sweltering, I also appreciate getting inside into the air conditioning.

Many people go home after work and crank up the AC on those hot and muggy days. In fact, shortly after the end of the summer workday, we usually see a surge in the amount of electricity needed to meet that demand, and it’s up to the people who oversee the operation of North America’s power grid to make sure there’s enough power being produced to keep you and me comfortable.

Demand for electricity is affected by more than just the cold or hot weather. More electricity is used by businesses during the workday, while home users crank up their usage first thing in the morning, and in the few hours right after work.

Our electric grid receives power from many sources, including power plants that use fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil; nuclear power plants; and renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar farms, hydroelectric dams, and even landfills.

Baseload power is a term used for any type of power generation that is needed for most of the electricity we use. That’s because these power sources form the foundation of our generation fleet. Always-available baseload power sources are designed to generate extremely large amounts of power all the time. The most familiar examples of baseload sources are nuclear and fossil-fuel power plants, hydroelectric, and even some geothermal facilities.

While baseload plants provide an affordable and dependable constant source of power, they’re not engineered to ramp up and down suddenly with swings in electrical demand, for instance when people all get home around the same time and turn on the oven and crank up their AC.

The intentional ramping up and down of generation capacity must be accomplished by intermediate or peaking power plants, most of which are natural gas-fueled generators. These smaller generators are designed to start up quickly and adapt their power output to meet the additional varying electric demand in real-time.

People concerned with climate change might wonder why power suppliers haven’t completely dumped fossil fuels in favor of renewables. The reality is that if co-ops and other electric utilities switched completely to intermittent renewable sources, we simply wouldn’t be able to meet consumers’ needs for reliable power when they need it most.

Unlike baseload generation, renewables like wind and solar are intermittent. Nature, not a grid operator, determines when electricity is being generated by renewables, and it’s not based on electrical demand. In fact, during some of the most extreme weather conditions, renewables may not be producing power at all. But that doesn’t mean there’s no place for renewables – it’s just that intermittent generation is 1 part of the larger electricity generation puzzle.

1 complication is that electricity must be consumed right when it is generated. Besides using more natural gas, 1 way to deal with the problem of renewable energy sources not always producing power when needed is by using battery storage systems. These systems can store extra power when it’s not needed by the grid and then release it when it is. However, using batteries for the whole North American power grid is a big challenge. Batteries need a lot of special materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which must be mined and then recycled or thrown away eventually. Even though battery technology is getting better, it’s still a long way from being able to fully replace all our fossil fuel power plants because our country continues to need more and more electric power.

Meeting electric demand when it’s needed most is why it’s important to maintain a diverse mix of energy sources and fuels. You can help reduce the need for additional electric generation, and the need for increasing costs, by taking simple steps to reduce your own energy use without sacrificing comfort. For example, switching to more efficient lighting, HVAC systems, and appliances when it’s time to replace them will not only reduce strain on the generation system but more importantly, it will reduce your bill too.

Contact us at URE to learn more about practical ways you can use less electricity without sacrificing comfort and convenience. We offer programs and rebates to encourage efficiency. We’re happy to provide you with all the power you need, but we also want to help you save money by using your power more efficiently. That’s the cooperative difference!