In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Sat, 7 Mar 2009 10:49:46 -0900: Hi, [snip] >The problem most likely is perhaps the utility has too large a base >load supply, coal or nuclear, which is unresponsive to load changes. [snip] I agree, however, I don't understand why coal fired plants have to be unresponsive. It must be due to the mass of the water in the boilers. If so, then the obvious solution would seem to be to reduce the mass of water. This can be done by using lots of thin pipes to carry the water, and by increasing the flow rate through those pipes.
Another option would be to gasify the coal first as has been variously proposed, thus essentially turning the plant into a gas fired plant anyway, and giving it the response typical of gas turbines. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
