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Concept
Peaking power plant
Summary
Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the power supplied commands a much higher price per kilowatt hour than base load power. Peak load power plants are dispatched in combination with base load power plants, which supply a dependable and consistent amount of electricity, to meet the minimum demand.
Although historically peaking power plants were frequently used in conjunction with coal baseload plants, peaking plants are now used less commonly. Combined cycle gas turbine plants have two or more cycles, the first of which is very similar to a peaking plant, with the second running on the waste heat of the first. That type of plant is often capable of rapidly starting up, albeit at reduced efficiency, and then over some hours transitioning to a more efficient baseload generation mode. Combined cycle plants have similar capital cost per watt to peaking plants, but run for much longer periods, and use less fuel overall, and hence give cheaper electricity.
As of 2020, open cycle gas turbines give an electricity cost of around $151–198/MWh.
Peaker plants are replaced with battery storage in some places. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is seeking to replace gas peaker plants with battery storage, 142 Tesla Megapacks (providing 100 MW) replaced a gas peaker plant in Ventura County, California and in Lessines, Belgium 40 Tesla Megapacks (50 MW) replaced a turbojet generator. Australia’s Clean Energy Council found in April 2021 that battery storage can be 30% cheaper than gas peaker plants.
Peak hours usually occur in the morning or late afternoon/evening depending on location. In temperate climates, peak hours often occur when household appliances are heavily used in the evening after work hours. In hot climates, the peak is usually late afternoon when air conditioning load is high, during this time many workplaces are still open and consuming power.
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