Ramp Rate And Dispatch Demonstration

How fast a firm unit can change output is a key dispatch parameter; for the burner it is set by plasma control and remains to be demonstrated.

Ramp rate as a dispatch parameter

A dispatchable resource is characterized partly by its ramp rate: how many megawatts per minute it can add or shed. High ramp rates let a unit follow the steep evening net-load neck and cover sudden losses of other generation. Steam plants ramp slowly because of thermal inertia; a burner without a steam cycle is not bound by that limit.

In the burner (MetroVolt), output is changed by adjusting fuelling, heating, and the direct-conversion bias, and the electrical path has little thermal mass. The ramp is therefore limited by how fast plasma parameters can be moved while holding confinement, not by boiler metal.

What a demonstration must show

A dispatch demonstration must establish the stable operating band, the achievable ramp rate within it, and that repeated ramping does not degrade confinement or hardware. These are precisely the parameters the ~2032 test unit is meant to measure.

Honest framing

No ramp rate has been demonstrated. The plug operating regime is 166 to 830 times beyond any device, so the true dispatch band and ramp are unknown today. DEC removes the thermal-inertia limit in principle; whether the plasma tolerates fast dispatch is an open question for the test program.