baseload power
Always-on generation capacity
Baseload power is the minimum level of electricity demand that a grid must supply continuously, around the clock.
Power plants providing baseload run steadily rather than ramping up and down—traditionally nuclear, coal, or hydroelectric facilities that are efficient at constant output but slow to adjust.
The term appears in energy policy debates: We need reliable baseload power to complement intermittent renewables like wind and solar.
- transmission linesCables carrying electrical current
- substationsVoltage transformation facilities
- coalCombustible sedimentary rock
- nuclearOf atomic energy
- carbon emissionsReleased greenhouse gases
hydroelectric · air pollution · uninterrupted · around-the-clock · steady state · geothermal · continuous · energy security · capital investment · water usage · electric utility · backbone · operational costs · always-on · natural gas · fossil fuels · smart grids · megawatts
- Nuclear Powernuclear reactors, nuclear plants, nuclear fuel, nuclear waste, uranium
- nuclear reactorsreactor core, control rods, fuel rods, reactor cores, nuclear fuel
- clean energysolar, wind, solar panels, wind turbines, renewables
- hydropowerhydropower, water turbine, dam, turbine, hydroelectricity
- nuclear energynuclear reactors, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, uranium, plutonium
- power plantsgenerating station, nuclear plant, coal plant, hydroelectric plant, solar farm