> Solar energy covers the daylight hours. The number of daylight hours varies considerably over the course of the year, as well as over varying weather conditi

> Solar energy covers the daylight hours. The number of daylight hours varies considerably over the course of the year, as well as over varying weather conditions. > Wind power covers the evening / night time hours. Wind power presents several logistical problems. One is that it tends to fall off in the heat of a summer day. This has the net effect of increasing the ramp rate required from other generation assets at the time of peak network load. There are also issues around the fact that wind power tends to be located away from areas of the highest demand. (Generation being in more rural areas, with demand largely being centered in urban areas.) This creates a need to move power in bulk over long distances, which creates issues around the need for reactive support to maintain voltage and therefore grid stability. > Storage technologies smooth out the bumps. Energy storage represents around 4% of US generation capacity, so I'm hoping they're small bumps, at least for the time being. (To put that 4% in perspective, the area I'm in is projecting a 50% increase in system load from this morning's low to this afternoon's high.) http://css.umich.edu/factsheets/us-grid-energy-storage-factsheet http://css.umich.edu/factsheets/us-grid-energy-storage-facts... > Nuclear plants tend to experience long down times for maintenance - which hardly makes them 'reliable'. Capacity factors for nuclear plants hover around 90%, with Solar around 25% and Wind around 30%. 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...