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Edited on Tue Jun-16-09 10:57 AM by happyslug
First, Hydro is the easiest to turn on and off, thus is generally kept back for peak use periods (Natural Gas is the second easiest to start and also tend to be kept back for peak use periods). Now, Hydro power based on a river will always produce some constant flow and thus always some base energy, but most lakes behind Hydro Dams have enough capacity to hold the water till needed so this is rarely a problem (It does raise its head every so often, especially during droughts but overall not a major concern).
The Second problem is several locations in the US, during off Peak hours, excess power from base units are used to pump water uphill behind hydro dams, then the water is used to power the hydro dam during any subsequent peak period. Is this power really hydro powered or based load? Viewing it directly it is Hydro, but looking at HOW the water was able to be used it is base loaded (Whatever is the base load power generation source in that area).
A separate set of problems with Hydro electricity, at the present time, is that most locks and dams built on the tributaries of the Mississippi have no electric Generation capacity. The Corp of Engineers took over those locks and dams in the late 1800s before electricity came into wide spread use and thus were never given the authority to make such locks and dams electric generators at the same time. The main purpose of the dams was NOT to keep water back to prevent flooding or even later Electrical power, but to keep the water level up so Barges can operate on the rivers 365 days a year instead of about 180 days a normal flowing river permits (The Lower Mississippi is the big exception to this rule, but it has extensive locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri and Red Rivers (And more locks and dams on other Tributaries to those four rivers in addition to the lower Mississippi itself). Flooding and electrical power generation was done with the large Dams up river from where Barges generally traveled. No River Traffic permitted Dams without locks, and such dams could be made very large, permitting them to hold a tremendous amount of water for later use.
AS to the Locks and Dams, in the 1970s the Corp was given the power to make these produce hydro electrical power but had to "share" the duty with whatever municipality was on River AND considered under state law adjacent to the lock and dam. Some municipalities took this up as an opportunity to raise revenue, the biggest problem was one or two municipalities found it was more profitable to take up the option AND then never go forward with the conversion (Clairton in the Pittsburgh Area was the worse case of this, opting using Pennsylvania Law to take options on ALL the Locks and Dams in Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh District of the Corp of Engineers, thus killing any conversion of those lock and dams to this day, I believe Duquesne Light was behind this but can NOT find any evidence, so it might just be Clairton, a depressed community, just trying to make money but also possible some underhanded deal was involved).
Please Note the above Law on the Corp of Engineers affects Lock and dams NOT Dams built to control flooding. The former is just to keep River flow steady so that barges can use the rivers 365 days a year, the later generally STOP any use of the River up stream of the Dam, but contain a huge amount of water and thus the main source of Hydro Power in the US Today.
One last Comment, one company has claims that using modern technology it can use the power of flowing rivers to produce electrical power. It has proposed building its generators between St Louis and New Orleans deep in the Mississippi River for that purpose. Now this would be a base load system since it will generate power all day long at the same rate. It could NOT keep any water back for later use. If such electrical systems are built and harm to fish and animals can be kept to a minimum (and that appears to be the case in such system), this may be a whole new source of base electrical production. The only problem with it, is that it would be a base electrical source NOT a peak source.
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