[paulyg]

Yes I know how all that works becuase I worked in the utility industry for over a decade.

My point was (1) when comparing peakers vs storage you need to consider the cost of: Off-peak generation + storage cost vs peaker cost. (2) This wasn't a cost driven thing. This is a demand driven thing.

[mikeash]

Off-peak generation is really cheap, though. It doesn't affect the equation that much. In some places (I'm sure SoCal isn't one of them) it's cheaper than free sometimes.

And of course it was a cost driven thing. This is the cheapest way to meet the demand. If there were a cheaper way, they would have taken that.

[Dylan16807]

People neglect the cost of off-peak generation because it's much cheaper than the other two parts of the equation.

It's still a cost driven thing. They could be emergency-buying or emergency-relocating gas infrastructure over the next few months.