Baseload power generators not needed to guarantee supply, say science and engineering academies

An energy system dominated by solar and wind energy does not require baseload power stations to guarantee supply security, German research academies have said.

“The academy project ‘Energy Systems of the Future’ (ESYS) has concluded that a secure energy supply is also possible without baseload power plants,” said the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), and the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.

Baseload power plants supply electricity continuously, whereas so-called residual load plants run only intermittently when needed.

“A combination of solar and wind energy with storage, a flexible hydrogen system, flexible electricity demand and residual load power plants will be necessary for a climate-friendly and reliable electricity supply,” the academies said.

The German government plans to use hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine plants to back up its renewables-based future electricity system.

The researchers modelled the potential of four baseload technologies: nuclear power plants, geothermal energy, natural gas power plants with CO2 capture, and nuclear fusion power plants.

Their results showed that baseload plants could become part of future energy systems if they save costs – a scenario the scientists consider unlikely. Baseload plants’ greatest impact on the overall system is that their surplus electricity could be used to run electrolysers, which would turn electricity into hydrogen, they said.

“For baseload power plants to lead to a substantial cost reduction, their costs would have to fall significantly below the level forecast today,” said Karen Pittel, who heads the ifo Institute’s Center for Energy, Climate and Resources, and is also deputy chair of the ESYS board of directors.

“In fact, we estimate that the risks of cost increases and delays in baseload technologies tend to be even higher than with the further expansion of solar and wind energy.”

See also: South Australia has the most wind and solar and no baseload: So why is it the only state not fretting about a vulnerable grid?

Clean Energy Wire. Reproduced with permission.