Frequency Service and Reserve Service
The national grid in the UK already is a massive user of this technology at an industrial scale - up to 2 GW of load can be lost instantaneously by frequency sensitive relays switching off steelworks etc., which is matched over a 20 minute cycle by up to 2 GW of quite small emergency diesel generators. For a complete description of this complex system see for example "Emergency Diesel Standby Generator’s Potential Contribution to Dealing With Renewable Energy Sources Intermittency And Variability" - a talk by David Andrews of Wessex Water who works closely with the UK National Grid to provide this service, given at the Open University Seminar "Coping with Variability - Integrating Renewables into the Electricity System" 24 January 2006.
Up to 5 GW of such diesel generation is used in France for similar purposes, but these technologies seem to be relatively unknown . There is no reason they should not be massively increased in scope to cope with even the intermittence introduced by wind power, which would in fact be less than the intermittence already inherent due to the unreliability of large power stations. For example, in the UK, Sizewell B can impose an instantaneous cut in generation of 1.2 GW, and indeed did so in May 2008, which is far more severe than the swings which could currently occur in a 100% wind scenario.
Read more about this topic: Dynamic Demand (electric Power)
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