Utilities rely on dirty ‘peaker’ plants when power demand surges, but there are alternatives
- Written by Akshaya Jha, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
Kearny Generating Station, a former coal-fired baseload power plant, now a gas-fired peaker, on the Hackensack River in New Jersey.Jim Henderson/Wikipedia, CC BYThe U.S. is nearing the end of one of its hottest summers on record. Across the nation, heat waves have driven peak electricity demand on some days to levels far exceeding seasonal averages...