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For Bob and any others interested, you can look at “marginal” electricity pricing variations by consulting the web sites of PJM ( pjm.com ) or MISO ( misoenergy.org ) that track electric demand, grid conditions, and marginal pricing in their respective reliability footprints.

Note that the marginal pricing in these cases includes not only the cost of generation but the cost of transmission plus a factor based on congestion, or loading of the transmission system in a given area. So, for example, a purchaser in, say, Pittsburgh, may be buying generation from an entity in central Virginia for $22 per megawatt hour, but since the lines between Pittsburgh and the plant are heavily loaded and constrained, there may be a large adder to that price, which might make it more economical to buy $30 power from a more local source because the transmission adder might be so high that the $22 price is no longer the most economical resource.

It’s both a simple and a complicated issue. TVA didn’t use marginal pricing based on constraints for transmission access, but that may change when they finally get their new energy management system computer into operation. The old computer system, reliable and durable, was from the 90s and didn’t have the capability to deal with that much additional data and calculations.

Incidentally, this pricing model does well to deal with transmission system constraints and loading, but it also drives the construction of new lines, particularly between the heavily wind-powered midwest states and the midwest and eastern cities to get that wind power form the source to the customer. States in between, naturally, don’t want these transmission lines across their states if they are not benefitting so it’s a big mess. I mean, if you’re Missouri, do you want a transmission line strewn across your state to provide wind power from Kansas and Oklahoma to be transmitted to, say, Louisville or Columbus? Probably not.

So, when are some of the “Lost Century” technologies going to be coming out, essentially negating the nuclear and cost per megawatt discussions? I realize some of them are already in-process, but something like the Sweet device should be available and able to move forward rather quickly. Or will a necessary “clean-up on aisle 17” be taking a bit longer before something like this can come out?

Just asking for a friend, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDMd7flfFVQ
The Lost Century Documentary