The leader of a local anti-solar energy group admitted to Ohio regulators last week that a well-connected natural gas executive is among the group’s largest donors.
This seems odd to me, as solar power generation often increases the need for power generation that can be quickly brought on- and off- line to fill in the gaps outside of daylight hours, on cloudy days, etc. Natural Gas plants are some of the fastest-reacting available in this regard, so installation of grid-scale solar projects often come along with natural gas plants as well.
Gas power operates as a cartel to set energy prices during periods of shortage. Plants will collude to withhold energy until a sufficiently high auction rate for energy is reached.
Solar plants can’t efficiently hold back their power in order to participate in the price gouging. All they can do is coast on the wave of high prices that nat gas producers create. This reduces instances of price spikes (particularly since peak usage happens in the afternoon, when solar power also peaks) which hurts gas cartels disproportionately.
This seems odd to me, as solar power generation often increases the need for power generation that can be quickly brought on- and off- line to fill in the gaps outside of daylight hours, on cloudy days, etc. Natural Gas plants are some of the fastest-reacting available in this regard, so installation of grid-scale solar projects often come along with natural gas plants as well.
The problem is that it’s cheaper to do solar plus utility-scale batteries than to burn stuff
Gas power operates as a cartel to set energy prices during periods of shortage. Plants will collude to withhold energy until a sufficiently high auction rate for energy is reached.
Solar plants can’t efficiently hold back their power in order to participate in the price gouging. All they can do is coast on the wave of high prices that nat gas producers create. This reduces instances of price spikes (particularly since peak usage happens in the afternoon, when solar power also peaks) which hurts gas cartels disproportionately.