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The green areas on this map all have one thing in common, they are backed either by hydro or nukes. The large wind providers (notice Texas, central Australia,
by StillBored 5y ago
The green areas on this map all have one thing in common, they are backed either by hydro or nukes.
The large wind providers (notice Texas, central Australia, etc ) are really burning natural gas/etc because the wind is rarely meeting even 50% of its nameplate capacity.
- masklinn 5y ago> wind is rarely meeting even 50% of its nameplate capacity. That’s hardly news though. In the US, the capacity factor of wind averages around 35%. The world over, it can range from 15% (though obviously you’d hope for some analysis before building to avoid locations where it’s that low) to 60% or so (according to the wiki, for Eolo in Nicaragua). Solar is both better and worse: more regular, but less evenly distributed, for PV solar the CF ranges from 20% in the south (e.g. AZ) to 10 when you reach the canadian border.