Keeping the Lights On While Transforming Electric Utilities

The report challenges the traditional utility assumption that 'baseload' power plants are necessary for grid stability, noting that all generators, including coal and nuclear, experience outages. It proposes a new electricity paradigm integrating energy efficiency, demand response, renewables, and storage. The authors assert that variable renewables like wind and solar can reliably meet demand if utilities use existing plants differently, incorporate new storage technologies, and increase control over demand. Examples from Denmark, Germany, and a NREL study on the eastern U.S. are cited to demonstrate the feasibility of high renewable penetration.

• The traditional concept of 'baseload' generation is physically meaningless because all power plants, including conventional thermal plants, are intermittent and experience outages. North American Electric Reliability Council data from 2003–2007 shows 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 reliable electric system can be achieved using smaller, variable resources by controlling other supply-side or demand-side resources to offset fluctuations. This is supported by the fact that modern forecasting often makes renewable energy production more predictable than electricity demand.
• Utilities can successfully integrate variable renewables through three primary methods: adjusting the output of existing plants to prioritize the cheapest-to-run renewable sources, utilizing new technologies like electric vehicle batteries for storage, and using smart grid technologies to increase control over consumer demand.
• High levels of wind power integration have already been demonstrated in Europe, with Denmark reaching 20 percent (and targeting 50 to 60 percent) and five German states reaching 30 to 40 percent. 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.

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} }