Baseload vs. peaker plants
The always-on workhorses versus the plants that only run when you need them most.
Power plants fall on a spectrum of how they're used. Baseload plants, historically large coal and nuclear stations plus hydro, are designed to run around the clock at steady output. They're expensive to build but cheap to run, so it pays to keep them going. Peaker plants are the opposite: usually gas turbines that are cheap to build but costly to run, switched on only for the few hundred hours a year when demand peaks.
Between them sit load-following plants, often combined-cycle gas, that ramp up and down through the day. The modern twist is that solar, wind, and batteries are reshaping this picture: solar flattens midday demand, batteries are taking over the fast-peaker role, and the old 24/7 baseload model is giving way to a more flexible, weather-driven grid.
Frequently asked questions
What is a baseload power plant?
A plant built to run continuously at steady output, traditionally nuclear, coal, or large hydro. Expensive to build and cheap to run, it operates around the clock.
What is a peaker plant?
A plant, usually a gas turbine, that runs only during peak demand, often just a few hundred hours a year. Cheap to build, expensive per unit of energy, increasingly replaced by batteries.