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If you use hydro for peaking, you increase the impact of hydro on the environment.

A hydro plant running at baseload has a river downstream that is like... a river. Water levels vary with something close to the natural rhythm.

A hydro plant used for peaking will have no water flow for hours, and then heavy water flow. That puts extreme stress on organisms living downstream.

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Rivers don't have constant flows so it's more natural to have variable output than constant output. And dam's never have zero output, it's more a question of 30-80% and back down.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700006602/USGS-Gains-from...

You mean just like the natural pattern of storms and snow melt that the areas you build hydro in already have?

Hydro here have carefully regulated flows to reduce the natural variation in the river so that for example an optimal flow is created for the various salmon runs.

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