The saying that's now prevalent at utility conferences is, "In the past, we'd forecast load and deploy generation. In the future, we'll forecast generation and deploy load."
Fuel-driven systems offer dispatchable power.
Resource-driven systems offer dispatchable load.
We're used to thinking of idled loads (factories, etc.) as wasted capital, but idled dispatchable power (peaking plant) is the same thing.
The old approach to this is described by the maxim "make hay while the sun shines". Find a task suitable to your current situation, stockpile for downtime.
(The fact that our present fuels are stockpiles of a previous era, that we're burning through at rates of 5 million times that which they accumulated, also bears heeding.)