peaker plant
n.— «Our natural gas fueled electricity generating facilities are commonly referred to as “peaker” plants. Our plants are used to balance unexpected short term surges in demand, making them critical to the reliability, or “insurance,” of the power grids they serve. Our assets generate revenue from providing capacity and ancillary reliability services to transmission grid that distributes electricity to industrial and retail electricity providers. During peak electricity usage times, such as the summer, we also sell our electricity in the daily merchant market.» —“10-K: MMC Energy, Inc.” MarketWatch Mar. 31, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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