A Clean Peak Standard might even be a way to revalue the neglected base load renewables; geothermal, and landfill gas.
A way to incentivize the use of clean energy — instead of gas peakers — to cover peak loads has been proposed in a white paper commissioned by Arizona’s Residential Utility Consumer Office, through a revision of state Renewable Energy Standards (RES).
Co-author Lon Huber, a Director with Strategen Consulting, was tasked with inventing a solution to the duck curve.
Huber told Utility Dive this week that his proposed Clean Peak Standard (CPS) should push developers to cover the need for generation at specific — peak — times.
“It adds more renewables, but it adds renewables when the system most needs capacity so it uses renewables to deal with system cost drivers and saves ratepayers money when electricity prices are highest.”
A CPS might even be a way to revalue the neglected base load renewables; geothermal, and landfill gas. Both provide steady base load generation, and back in the day when base load was what the grid was all about, landfill gas and geothermal looked most likely to represent the future of clean energy.
