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Right, but the average capacity factor for natural gas plants in the US is about 56%. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25652 https://www.eia.gov
by bcatanzaro 8y ago
Right, but the average capacity factor for natural gas plants in the US is about 56%.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25652 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25652
- durkie 8y agoTrue. I guess the overall point I was trying to make is that the low capacity factor of solar strengthens the case for this beginning the real transition to renewables, since utilities are used to low capacity-factor assets (and are still choosing solar in spite of that drawback)
- toomuchtodo 8y agoAt some point within the next 3-5 years, storage + solar will exceed the capacity factor of natural gas without the fuel price volatility.
- philipkglass 8y agoThe capacity factor for utility scale solar PV in the US was 27% in 2017: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_6_07_b https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.ph... The capacity factor gap with utility scale gas plants isn't as large as you might guess from looking at residential rooftop solar.