Yes.
'Everything' is not all the same.
You have technologies suitable for 'baseload' power generation: nuclear, coal, geothermal, hydro... (and, to lesser extents: natural gas and perhaps solar in the daylight for various regions).
And 'non-baseload' technologies: wind, solar, tidal, etc.
Natural gas is - from a technology point-of-view - just fine as a baseload supplier (except when fuel costs rise). When gas costs are higher, as you pointed out, it is used more for 'on-demand' load leveling.
PS --- I would not characterize solar as being "less reliable" (as you did in your post), in that the odds of the sun not coming up tomorrow over suitably chosen 'solar generation terrain' such as the Mohave Desert is pretty damn low. <GGG>
(Fortunately for solar, the highest power demand is during the daytime....)
But it is also equally true that the daily occurrences of what the kids call 'night' far exceed the expected normal annual outages for, say, coal plants.
Still, no ONE choice is 'perfect' for all applications. there is much strength and resilience in diversity of supply.
But our woe-begone power grids need major, major attention. |
