It’s one of those excruciating days when the summer heat becomes unbearable. The first thing you do when you get home from work is turn the thermostat down a few degrees to cool off. Throughout your area and the entire region, everyone else is doing the same thing.
The end of the workday creates a massive surge in the amount of electricity needed to meet the demand, and it’s up to those who oversee the operation of North America’s power grid to ensure there’s an adequate amount of electricity to meet the demand.
It’s a challenging task because the amount of electricity needed varies throughout the day. During the night, the demand is lower, but as everyone wakes up in the morning to start their day, the demand for power climbs quickly.
Our electric grid gathers and distributes power from many sources, including power plants that convert fossil fuels into electricity, nuclear power plants and renewable energy sources. The electricity supplied from all these sources is categorized as baseload, peaking or intermediate power.
Baseload power accounts for most of the electricity we use. Always-available power sources are designed to constantly generate large amounts of power, so you and everyone else have a reliable supply of electricity whenever it’s needed.
While baseload plants provide a dependable source of power, they’re not engineered to keep up with sudden changes in electricity demand. The companies operating them are unable to turn them on or off quickly.
When the demand for electricity shifts, grid operators turn to either intermediate or peaking power plants. These plants are designed to start up quickly and adapt their output to meet the demand. In most cases, peaking plants supply more frequent and sudden changes, whereas intermediate plants supply more gradual or slower changes.
Renewable power sources are increasingly used to supply electricity. Wind and solar provide intermittent power since the electricity generated depends upon cooperation from nature. Solar panels can’t generate electricity when there’s not enough sunlight, and large wind turbines generally don’t produce power until the wind speed reaches 13 mph.
Because wind and solar depend on unpredictable weather conditions, they can’t be relied upon to deliver predictable and constant baseload power. This is why changes in electricity demand are usually met with intermediate or peak generation powered by more traditional sources like natural gas.
Electric co-op consumer-members who are concerned about climate change may wonder why power suppliers aren’t rushing to replace fuels such as coal and natural gas with renewable energy alternatives. If co-ops and other electric utilities switch completely to intermittent sources, they cannot meet consumers’ needs for reliable power.
While electric co-ops are working to shift to renewable energy sources, the realities of differing power needs are why most maintain a diverse mix of energy sources and fuels. Co-op members can help by taking steps to reduce their own energy use. The less power we all use, the less the power producers will have to generate.
