If an operator does not agree to provide power at a certain price in advance with an agreed relability he should be penalized.

And in fact they are. Renewables are penalized for intermittency by receiving a lower than the average clearing price per MWh, while new coal and nuke plants are penalized by not being built.

The free-riders under the current system are the fully amortized brown coal plants, who - because they face low marginal costs and do not face the threat of liquidation due to momentary cashflow shortfalls - can sell baseload at the average clearing price rather than a lower feed-in rate.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.