Froggie…not sure If you are joking or serious about “buying better generators”……IEA operates several large coal-fired baseload plants using relatively modern steam boilers and turbine generators….they’ve also added a number of new natural gas-fired combustion turbines. ( I think they’ve shut down most of the old oil-fired steam units but may keep them on standby for emergency use). By definition, these generating units are cycled to follow load (less so for the baseload coal, more so for the gas fired units and peakers). All of these units have AGC dispatch via computer telemetry but still require a small team in the dispatch center 24×7. No utility in the world is completely automated. IEA also buys power from about a dozen independent generators with varying size units, some which may not require 24×7 staffing if they are linked via AGC and have the appropriate telemetry. In addition to the Staffing at the plants who monitor boiler feed and turbine performance, IEA also has several hundred line crews available 24×7 in case of any wire outages.
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