Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumRenewables Driving Electricity Prices below $0 Some Afternoons & Cutting into Baseload Power Plants
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/15/renewables-driving-electricity-prices-to-negative-some-afternoons-cutting-into-baseload-power-plants-market-share/Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind have been outstripping the electricity supply of traditional baseload (coal, nuclear, and some natural gas) power plants during daytime, especially afternoons, in some renewable-leading countries of late. One reason for this is: electricity demand tends to increase during the sunniest (the hottest) hours, and solar power plants generate more electricity when it is sunnier, which is right on cue.
Not perfectly, but solar power production tends to follow electricity demand. This is especially true in the warmer temperatures, since air conditioners (which consume a lot of electricity) are turned up to compensate for the hot afternoon weather.
Importantly, as solar power plants outstrip the power production of baseload power plants, electricity is sold for a lower price than baseload power on the spot market. On April 1 of this year, not even that hot of a day, the price of electricity on the European Electricity Index (ELIX) actually dropped to -0.01.
<more - and a table of data too>
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
5 replies, 2144 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (13)
ReplyReply to this post
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Renewables Driving Electricity Prices below $0 Some Afternoons & Cutting into Baseload Power Plants (Original Post)
jpak
May 2012
OP
dkf
(37,305 posts)1. "in some renewable-leading countries" = "not the US".
Argh.
DCKit
(18,541 posts)2. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!11!11111!!
Gigajoules!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)3. Now you see why they oppose solar and wind?
It is in reality when compared to nuclear boiling of water,
Too Cheap To Meter!!
diane in sf
(3,919 posts)4. Nice comment!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)5. Well thanks, diane
See, i can be nice. Don't believe everything you read about me.
I do, however, have a few folks that rub me the wrong way.
They are, shall we say, Radioactive?