What you seem to be referring to as "idle capacity" is actually existing capacity.
Yes and no.
Yes, there are existing gas/oil/coal/hydro capacity that can be kept in reserve. The problems:
- Not all types of generators can be 'fired up' when needed. Gas and hydro are very flexible, but Coal doesn't work that way. Coal is good for base-line generation, but its not good at ramping up or down depending on demand. So you can't keep coal plants in reserve. If that's all the grid has, you would need to build new gas plants
- Even if a generator is sitting idle waiting until its needed, its not exactly a cost-free scenario. Even an idle generator requires maintenance and probably staff. And eventually it will require replacement.
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