Description of Base Load
– Grid operators take long and short term bids to provide electricity over various time periods and balance supply and demand continuously.
– The unit commitment problem in electrical power production involves detailed adjustments.
– There is no specific technical requirement for large power grids to use unvarying power plants to meet the base load.
– The base load can be met by intermittent power sources and dispatchable generation.
– Examples of unvarying power plants include coal, nuclear, combined cycle plants, hydroelectric, geothermal, biogas, biomass, solar thermal with storage, and ocean thermal energy conversion.
Economics of Base Load
– Grids with high penetration of renewable energy sources require more flexible generation.
– Grid operators solicit bids to find the cheapest sources of electricity over short and long term buying periods.
– Nuclear and coal plants have high fixed costs, high plant load factor, and low marginal costs.
– Peak load generators, such as natural gas, have low fixed costs, low plant load factor, and high marginal costs.
– Some combined-cycle plants fueled by gas can provide baseload power and match rapid fluctuations in consumption.
Related Concepts
– Energy portal
– Capacity factor
– Energy demand management
– Grid energy storage
– Load balancing (electrical power)
– Smart grid
– Load following power plant
– Peaking power plant
References
– Definition of baseload. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
– Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers, Eleventh Edition
– The Basics on Base Load: Meeting Ontario’s Base Load Electricity Demand with Renewable Power Sources (PDF)
– Supplying Baseload Power and Reducing Transmission Requirements by Interconnecting Wind Farms (Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology)
– Energy Dictionary – Baseload plant (EnergyVortex.com)
– Debunking Three Myths About Baseload (NRDC)
– Steve Holliday CEO National Grid: baseload is outdated (EnergyPost.eu)
– Electricity Auctions: An Overview of Efficient Practices (PDF)
– Why baseload power is doomed (ZDNet)
– Scaling Geothermal for Reliable Baseload Power (renewableenergyworld.com)
– Wind and solar energy curtailment: A review of international experience (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews)
– Renewables Curtailment: What We Can Learn From Grid Operations in California and the Midwest (Green Tech Media)
– How electricity auctions are rigged to favor industry (Al Jazeera)
– What is Generation Capacity? (Energy.gov)
– Ontario Hydro at the Millennium: Has Monopoly’s Moment Passed? (McGill-Queens University Press)
– Nuclear Development (Nuclear Energy Agency)
– A user’s guide to natural gas power plants (Utility Dive) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_load
The base load (also baseload) is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time, for example, one week. This demand can be met by unvarying power plants, dispatchable generation, or by a collection of smaller intermittent energy sources, depending on which approach has the best mix of cost, availability and reliability in any particular market. The remainder of demand, varying throughout a day, is met by dispatchable generation which can be turned up or down quickly, such as load following power plants, peaking power plants, or energy storage.
Power plants that do not change their power output quickly, such as large coal or nuclear plants, are generally called baseload power plants. Historically, most or all of base load demand was met with baseload power plants, whereas new capacity based around renewables often employs flexible generation.
