Use market forces to level energy demand

The May 27 column by Wallace Taylor (“Shattering the myth of baseload”) attempts to obfuscate the reality of the baseload in our electrical distribution system by playing to an “us vs. them” mentality without offering a viable alternative to the present system.

Regardless of a coal or nuclear power plant's downtime, there is always a “baseload” - the minimum power drawn by customers over a period of time. And regardless of the source of power, there is always a transient demand that peaks during maximum customer electrical usage. During periods of highest demand, the most unattractive sources of power are used, such as natural gas turbines, because these sources are much easier to turn off than a coal or nuclear power plant.

If people, such as Taylor, want to eliminate pollution from coal plants, they need to support nuclear energy. If they want to eliminate the pollution from gas turbines, they will not find a viable answer in wind or solar, two sources of energy greatly influenced by the weather and latitude. Rather, the answer to supplying the “peak load” is to charge customers the fair market spot price for electricity - i.e., if people want to run their air conditioner or dryer when the power company is paying 20 cents per kilowatt hour, that is what the customer should pay. Using market forces to level demand is the American way.

David Sheets

Toddville