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Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by ceejayoz on Friday July 11, 2025 @05:03PM (#44536757)
Solar fluctuates too; there's not much at night.

This largely means we have to build a bit more of each, and store some.

The chances of an entire continent being devoid of wind and solar for an extended period becomes vanishingly small pretty fast.

Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by bryanlarsen on Friday July 11, 2025 @05:31PM (#44536959)
There is a paper floating around showing that for both US+Canada and the continental EU there has never been a single hour where there has been no wind and no sun somewhere in a 30 year period.
Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by Animats on Friday July 11, 2025 @06:09PM (#44537263)
> There is a paper floating around

This needs a better cite.

Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by lukan on Friday July 11, 2025 @08:19PM (#44538138)
I mean, would you believe it the other way around?

Someone claiming, there was a day with no wind and no sun in whole north america in the last 30 years?

I wouldn't believe that. But concrete data to have, is of course better than assuming ..

Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by Animats on Saturday July 12, 2025 @01:29AM (#44539560)
Here's the CAISO wind graph. This is the total wind energy from four large states. Note that the low point is 1/7 that of the peak, which is around noon.[1] Here's the PJM wind graph.[2] Low point is about 1/4 the peak, again, around local noon.

It just doesn't "average out" across even a sizable country.

[1] https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply

[2] https://dataviewer.pjm.com/dataviewer/pages/public/wind.jsf

Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by ceejayoz on Saturday July 12, 2025 @09:31AM (#44541936)
Now click the demand view.

It goes dramatically up and down on a daily pattern, too.

Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by Animats on Sunday July 13, 2025 @11:28PM (#44556181)
The demand curve and the wind curve are not synchronized in any way. Solar at least peaks with peak air conditioning load.
Re:In a First, Solar Was Europe's Biggest Source of Power La... by ceejayoz on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:47AM (#44560217)
If only we could store some energy for a while!