No other type of industrial power generator has such a low capacity factor because of its inherent technical limitations and the nature of its power source. Nuclear plants, even with outages for maintenance, have capacity factors in excess of 90 percent; their national average approaches that level. (
The low capacity factor for wind energy has enormous implications. Without considering any other variables, simple arithmetic shows that over 2000- 2.0 MW wind turbines, each with a generous capacity factor of 30 percent and spread over hundreds of miles, would be necessary to equal the output of one 1600 MW coal plant situated on a few acres.
Environmentalists who demand dependable power generation at minimum environmental risk should take care about what they wish for, more aware that, with Rube Goldberg machines, the desired outcome is unlikely to 24 be achieved. Subsidies given to industrial wind technology divert resources that could otherwise support effective measures, while uninformed rhetoric on its behalf distracts from the discourseóand political action-- necessary for achieving more enlightened policy.
