Historically, coal-fired power plants have faced competition from other forms of power generation such as nuclear, natural gas and oil. Like most coal-fired plants, many of these were designed to operate primarily on base load. However, competition is now increasingly coming from a range of renewable energy sources that include biomass, geothermal, hydro, solar, and wind. Unlike conventional power plants, several of these (particularly wind and solar power) are wholly dependent on prevailing weather patterns and consequently only generate electricity on an intermittent/variable basis. Changes in operating patterns mean that many existing coal-fired power plants no . . .
