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.
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.