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According to Wikipedia, the Elwha Dam had a hydroelectric capacity of 14.8 MW, which is about five wind turbines. For reference, the US currently has more than
by kibwen 3y ago
According to Wikipedia, the Elwha Dam had a hydroelectric capacity of 14.8 MW, which is about five wind turbines. For reference, the US currently has more than 71,000 wind turbines, and on average the US installs 3,000 wind turbines per year, which is 8 per day.
- huytersd 3y agoThis is a great comment to visualize how little power is being lost here.
- keyboard_slap 3y agoI thought comparing capacity factor instead of capacity would be more fair, but I got roughly the same result. Elwha's capacity factor was, at one point, 39% [0], and capacity factor for wind turbines in the US is ~35% [1]. However, we're still comparing a source of on-demand power to a source of intermittent power. [0] https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6536093 https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6536093 (page 14) [1] https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=52038 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=52038