Balancing against wind and solar, both of which can evaporate at certain times of year. Without more storage we’re left in a position where we basically need to be able to support 30GW of demand just on gas.
Frequency stabilisation and cold start capability. We never seem to drop below 4GW of gas (or biomass - anything spinning mass) generation. Even if we had excess wind and solar, some gas will be burnt “just in case”.
Right now we need more storage, and better connections from the new sources of power (the coast for wind and international connectors) to the centres of demand (the cities). Power stations were historically located much closer to where the demand is, and our electricity grid is still shaped by that.
Today has been a good example. Lots of wind and sun but still 16% gas. We even switched some wind farms off today because we couldn’t get the power to where it was needed or a way to store it.
I can speak a bit on the UK as I live there.
The use of gas is for two things.
Balancing against wind and solar, both of which can evaporate at certain times of year. Without more storage we’re left in a position where we basically need to be able to support 30GW of demand just on gas.
Frequency stabilisation and cold start capability. We never seem to drop below 4GW of gas (or biomass - anything spinning mass) generation. Even if we had excess wind and solar, some gas will be burnt “just in case”.
Right now we need more storage, and better connections from the new sources of power (the coast for wind and international connectors) to the centres of demand (the cities). Power stations were historically located much closer to where the demand is, and our electricity grid is still shaped by that.
Today has been a good example. Lots of wind and sun but still 16% gas. We even switched some wind farms off today because we couldn’t get the power to where it was needed or a way to store it.