IMO people, even experts, still hugely underestimate the importance of solar to long term storage. Utility solar is very uncommon in snowy parts of the US, but

IMO people, even experts, still hugely underestimate the importance of solar to long term storage. Utility solar is very uncommon in snowy parts of the US, but it's the only place you can reasonably generate winter power. The optimum winter angle in Massachusetts is just 24 degrees from vertical! That angle is so crazy steep that it can't possibly collect snow, but it generates several times more power than the rooftop panels that make up ~80% of MA solar. Since the total sunlight is 3.5x weaker in winter and demand is much higher, that's hugely important. The darkest winter months between October to February (~4 months total where insolation is ~1/2 annual average) would mean virtually no solar if MA does not build utility scale plants. Nuclear and wind would be flat out the only ways to supply that without emitting CO2. However, if panels are angled for winter use they can easily outcompete nuclear. Nuclear running 4 months per year would cost 3x as much as normal. Overbuilding solar by 3x and angling it at 24 degrees would cost over 3x as much and generate less than the nuclear (because of cloudy days), but all that power would be available year-round at no extra cost. The amount of storage required would be almost the same, since it only needs to account for the shorter length of the day.