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Energy & Renewables vocabulary · Power Generation and Power Plants

Baseload

Meaning in energy & renewables, with examples

/ˈbeɪsloʊd/nounCommon term

In energy & renewables, baseload means: The minimum level of electricity demand that continues day and night, and the power plants that run almost all the time to supply it.

In Turkish: baz yük, temel yük

How it is used

Often used like an adjective: baseload plants, baseload power, baseload generation. Nuclear, coal, lignite and some hydro and geothermal plants have traditionally supplied baseload. With more solar and wind, many experts now prefer to talk about flexibility instead. Also written base load.

Example sentences

  1. Lignite plants still supply much of the country's baseload.

  2. Geothermal is one of the few renewables that can run as baseload.

Common collocations

  • baseload power
  • baseload plant
  • provide baseload
  • baseload generation
  • loadThe amount of electrical power that consumers or a device draw from the system at a given moment, or the equipment that uses that power.
  • peak demandThe highest level of electricity demand in a given period, such as a day or a year, which the power system must be able to supply.
  • dispatchableDescribing a power source whose output can be started, raised or lowered on request, such as gas, reservoir hydro or batteries, unlike weather-dependent solar and wind.
  • nuclear powerElectricity produced from the heat released when uranium atoms are split in a reactor. It produces almost no carbon dioxide while running.
  • capacity factorThe ratio of the electricity a plant actually produces over a period to what it would produce running at full capacity the whole time, shown as a percentage.

More terms: Power Generation and Power Plants

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