Maintenance does incur planned downtime on a power plant, but those things can be planned for when there isn't much energy usage throughout the year. In colder

Maintenance does incur planned downtime on a power plant, but those things can be planned for when there isn't much energy usage throughout the year. In colder climates that's usually in the spring/summer. If a plant goes out for two weeks every year for maintenance, that's not a big problem. A wind farm on the other hand has a much lower load factor (UK offshore is around 30% [0]), and that load capacity isn't planned at all. You might get 30% on average per year, but that daily capacity fluctuates throughout the year - that's what I mean about fluctuating capacity. [0] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-o...