two-shifting

One of the major obstacles to the smooth integration of coal-fired power stations  and renewable energy supplies has been the inability to turn off the power station as there is a surge in the supply of renewables in the middle of the day.  The only solution to date has been to dump the excess energy from the renewables so as not to flood the system.  But now AGL has found that it can adopt the process of two-shifting.  It can power down its coal power station for four or five hours and then bring it back online relatively quickly.  This is good news indeed. The first attempt was made at Bayswater Power Station in September this year where the unit was taken offline a few minutes before 10am and brought back online within a minute at 3pm. This will provide the security of a two-shift base-load power station to support the development of renewable systems until such time as they take over.