3 ms·

1) None of these are grid scale. 2) All of them are heavily subsidized. The closest I see in that list is Mount Signal 3, which comes in at about 1/3 the capac

1) None of these are grid scale. 2) All of them are heavily subsidized. The closest I see in that list is Mount Signal 3, which comes in at about 1/3 the capacity of a typical grid-scale generating station (1/6 if you account for the fact that it's producing zero power half the time, on average). It also chews up nearly 2,000 acres of land.

philipkglass 3y ago
Hillston is 120 megawatts. Sun Streams 2 is 200 megawatts. Mount Signal 3 is 328 megawatts. The coal fired generating plants that retired in the US in the past decade were often smaller than that. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7290 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7290 The table above shows that the coal generators that retired between 2009 and 2011 had an average size of 59 megawatts (MW). By contrast, the average size of a coal-fired plant planned for retirement between 2012 and 2015 is 154 MW, more than twice the average size of the units retired during the 2009-2011 period. In 2022, coal fired generators had a capacity factor of ~48% in the United States: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_6_07_a https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.ph... Photovoltaic solar farms attained ~25% capacity factor in 2022: 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... As a rough guide you can estimate that an American solar farm will generate about as much electricity annually as an American coal plant with half the nameplate capacity. Mount Signal 3 would roughly match a 164 megawatt coal fired generator for annual generation.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  We were comparing nuclear and solar, not coal and solar. 164 megawatts (328 / 2, to account for the fact that solar plants are offline a minimum of half the time) is not anywhere in the same league as nuclear power plant, which are typically in the 2-3 gigawatt range, with modern large-scale plants producing 6-8 gigawatts. The Mount Signal 3 plant also used up 2,000 acres (800 hectares of Imperial Valley farm land.

philipkglass 3y ago

Hillston is 120 megawatts. Sun Streams 2 is 200 megawatts. Mount Signal 3 is 328 megawatts. The coal fired generating plants that retired in the US in the past decade were often smaller than that. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7290 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7290 The table above shows that the coal generators that retired between 2009 and 2011 had an average size of 59 megawatts (MW). By contrast, the average size of a coal-fired plant planned for retirement between 2012 and 2015 is 154 MW, more than twice the average size of the units retired during the 2009-2011 period. In 2022, coal fired generators had a capacity factor of ~48% in the United States: https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=table_6_07_a https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.ph... Photovoltaic solar farms attained ~25% capacity factor in 2022: 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... As a rough guide you can estimate that an American solar farm will generate about as much electricity annually as an American coal plant with half the nameplate capacity. Mount Signal 3 would roughly match a 164 megawatt coal fired generator for annual generation.

Turing_Machine 3y ago
We were comparing nuclear and solar, not coal and solar. 164 megawatts (328 / 2, to account for the fact that solar plants are offline a minimum of half the time) is not anywhere in the same league as nuclear power plant, which are typically in the 2-3 gigawatt range, with modern large-scale plants producing 6-8 gigawatts. The Mount Signal 3 plant also used up 2,000 acres (800 hectares of Imperial Valley farm land.