Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities

This report argues that electric utilities must shift from a traditional model of managing uncontrollable demand with large 'baseload' plants to a new paradigm using a diversified portfolio of smaller, variable resources, including energy efficiency and renewables, to maintain reliability and cost-effectiveness.

• The traditional utility model relies on two outdated assumptions: that only supply can be controlled and that steady demand is best met by 'baseload' plants. The authors argue that the concept of 'baseload' is largely meaningless from a physical perspective because all generators, including large thermal plants, experience outages. For example, North American Electric Reliability Council data from 2003–2007 indicates that coal-fired capacity was shut down an average of 12.3 percent of the time, nuclear 10.6 percent, and gas-fired 11.8 percent.
• A new electricity paradigm is required to address climate change, energy security, and disruptive technologies. This paradigm integrates energy efficiency, demand response, renewables (such as wind and solar), energy storage, and distributed generation to create a more secure and cost-effective system.
• Variable renewable resources can reliably meet demand if utilities transition to managing a larger portfolio of small resources and utilize new flexibility options. These include adjusting the output of existing plants to offset renewable generation, using electric vehicles and advanced storage to manage peak loads, and employing smart grid technologies to increase control over demand.
• Real-world examples and studies demonstrate the viability of high renewable integration. Denmark is 20 percent windpowered and aiming for 50 to 60 percent, while five German states are 30 to 40 percent windpowered. Additionally, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study suggests the eastern U.S. could be over 30 percent windpowered by 2024 with integration costs equal to one-tenth of current competitive average prices for windpower.

APA

Hansen, L., & Lovins, A. B. (2010). Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Keeping-the-Lights-On-While-Transforming-Electric-Utilities-1BH.pdf

Chicago

Hansen, Lena, and Amory B. Lovins. Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities. RMI, 2010. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Keeping-the-Lights-On-While-Transforming-Electric-Utilities-1BH.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hansen |first1=Lena |last2=Lovins |first2=Amory B. |title=Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities |publisher=RMI |date=2010 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Keeping-the-Lights-On-While-Transforming-Electric-Utilities-1BH.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hansen2010keeping, author = {Hansen, Lena and Lovins, Amory B.}, title = {{Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2010}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_Keeping-the-Lights-On-While-Transforming-Electric-Utilities-1BH.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }