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Do you know if it would be easier to get fully domestic supply and manufacturing chains for solar or for wind, if a way is found to prevent corruption undermini

Do you know if it would be easier to get fully domestic supply and manufacturing chains for solar or for wind, if a way is found to prevent corruption undermining setting up fully domestic production?

firesteelrain 2mo ago
For onshore wind, probably wind. For offshore wind, not nearly as clear. The US still lacks a lot of the specialized vessels, ports and manufacturing capacity. Solar has bigger upstream dependence on Asian wafer/cell production.
- ceejayoz 2mo ago
  > The US still lacks a lot of the specialized vessels, ports and manufacturing capacity. Maybe we should put the $1.2B into that sort of thing, then?
  - firesteelrain 2mo ago
    [dead]
  - windyoil 2mo ago
    [dead]
    - ceejayoz 2mo ago
      > one would have to be careful that it does not end up lost in corruption I think that ship, as it were, has sailed. > The concerns about radar and wind turbines do not seem fake when private sector military companies try to offer solutions for it. Contractors - especially military ones! - love to sell solutions to fake problems (or fake solutions to real problems) if they can get away with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651
- glaslong 2mo ago
  Forgive the ignorance, what drives the demand for offshore wind instead of on land anyway? Shorter power run to coastal cities vs longer transmission loss from exurban environments? And with solar, I can't imagine that would be fast to stand up production for... but we're attempting the Herculean task with modern chip fabs. Would panels be harder than that? They both seem existential needs for the future of the country.
  - bryanlarsen 2mo ago
    Offshore wind is far more reliable than onshore wind. Geography ensures that some ocean locations pretty much always have wind blowing. North Sea wind turbines have a capacity factor of about 60%, approximately double that of onshore wind turbines. The other advantage of offshore is that it can support the truly massive wind turbines. Onshore wind turbines are a lot smaller.
    - glaslong 2mo ago
      I have much to learn, thanks!

firesteelrain 2mo ago

For onshore wind, probably wind. For offshore wind, not nearly as clear. The US still lacks a lot of the specialized vessels, ports and manufacturing capacity. Solar has bigger upstream dependence on Asian wafer/cell production.

ceejayoz 2mo ago
> The US still lacks a lot of the specialized vessels, ports and manufacturing capacity. Maybe we should put the $1.2B into that sort of thing, then?
- firesteelrain 2mo ago
  [dead]
- windyoil 2mo ago
  [dead]
  - ceejayoz 2mo ago
    > one would have to be careful that it does not end up lost in corruption I think that ship, as it were, has sailed. > The concerns about radar and wind turbines do not seem fake when private sector military companies try to offer solutions for it. Contractors - especially military ones! - love to sell solutions to fake problems (or fake solutions to real problems) if they can get away with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651
glaslong 2mo ago
Forgive the ignorance, what drives the demand for offshore wind instead of on land anyway? Shorter power run to coastal cities vs longer transmission loss from exurban environments? And with solar, I can't imagine that would be fast to stand up production for... but we're attempting the Herculean task with modern chip fabs. Would panels be harder than that? They both seem existential needs for the future of the country.
- bryanlarsen 2mo ago
  Offshore wind is far more reliable than onshore wind. Geography ensures that some ocean locations pretty much always have wind blowing. North Sea wind turbines have a capacity factor of about 60%, approximately double that of onshore wind turbines. The other advantage of offshore is that it can support the truly massive wind turbines. Onshore wind turbines are a lot smaller.
  - glaslong 2mo ago
    I have much to learn, thanks!