Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I'm not saying to not build renewables, but you still require something else. You can't use batteries for a week in January when the wind is dead and solar is at near zero. You must replace coal capacity with gas in Alberta, there is no other choice. That's reality. Well, that or weeks of blackouts.
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While this is true, we need to get in the weeds to see why this is less of an issue than one might think. Installation of the gas turbine is not actually that expensive. Even added to solar as backup it's at least competitive with a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine alone once carbon tax is factored in. To get down to the economics, renewables only real cost is the fixed cost for installation and a small amount for periodic maintenance. For CCGT you not only have the fixed installation costs, but then you're also paying the marginal cost of the gas for every kWh produced whereas the marginal cost of each kWh from wind and solar is virtually zero. It really depends on efficiencies of the turbines, local gas prices, and installed turbine price which are highly variable depending on where they're being built. I also would imagine as gas becomes less relied on for energy and production is disrupted, the prices will fluctuate a lot and it suddenly won't always be so cheap. That would favour gas as a back up a fair bit more