The U.S. solar industry expects to add a record 32 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity this year, up 53% on new capacity in 2022 and helped by investment incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, a report published on Thursday showed.
32 GW is a lot. The average thermal coal generating station in the US is 1GW and these stations have an average capacity of 50%. That means that this colar prodution capacity enables us to displace 64 coal stations during the daytime if consumption does not grow.
200w capacity in 1 square meter ? rather use windmills instead (especially offshore)
Or just put them in places where people can’t live easily, like the desert, which is what’s being done. Also, we can do both!
excessive heat makes panel inefficient. they need to be cool to reach maximum efficiency (at 26°c) … might as well install them offshore…but still, remote place is best place
Good point!
solar actually gets a greater power density. most wind projects in the US get about 2.5 MW/km^2
ie 250w per square meter, but it doesnt get affected by heat.1 square km could then host 2Mw of solar and 2.5Mw of wind. I always wondered how efficient wind is. according to google, a windmill produces 3 Gwh per year, some read 8Gwh, idk what to believe. i would be interested if there were more estate efficient form of renewable