Let's Talk About Energy!
Posted on September 28th, 2022
Let’s talk about energy! From the watts needed to power your home to the kilowatt-hours of electrical energy used and reflected on your monthly electric bill, it takes a balance of power.
There’s a lot of commentary from people outside the industry speculating about what resources we should use to generate electricity. We have a wide range of resources we can generate power from, but they all aren’t created equal! How is that? It’s electricity, right?
Natural gas, coal, wind, solar and hydro are all part of our generation portfolio. We have a campaign to inform you – our member – about the benefits of each resource called “Balance of Power.” One resource is not better than the other, and they all have a place in our generation mix.
We often take base load generation for granted. By definition it refers to the minimum amount of electric power needed to be supplied to the electrical grid at any given time. That’s the power you need when you get up in the middle of the night to sneak into the kitchen and flip a light switch on to get a snack out of the fridge! We want, we need, and we use power 24-7-365! That’s why coal and natural gas are so important. They provide power when the other resources like wind and solar aren’t producing. Now, batteries are becoming an option, but price and duration of batteries are big obstacles we still haven’t overcome. California is a prime example.
Intermittent energy, or renewables (solar, wind and hydro), is electrical energy that is not continuously available due to external factors that cannot be controlled. It’s produced by electricity generating sources that vary in their conditions on a fairly short time scale. We love the sun and wind, but they can’t cover our base load needs – or the midnight refrigerator raid!
Now, you see why I said that all kW’s are not created equal. Our goal is to provide you with affordable and reliable electricity to power your home, business or farm. It’s our pleasure to serve you and provide you with power you need!
Sincerely,
Rick Love