Orionworks - Steven Vincent Johnson <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm under the impression that combined wind and solar generation is still > a tiny fraction (single digits) of the aggregate nuclear and fossil fuel > market. > I think wind is close to 6% of actual provided electricity (not capacity), and solar is just below 1%. In Iowa wind is 25%. Nuclear is 20% of actual electricity. So, wind is about a quarter of nuclear power. It is gaining rapidly. Wind provides ~42% of new capacity added each year. I think it is expanding faster than nuclear did in its heyday. At this rate it will catch up with nuclear power in a few decades, just about the time most nuclear plants will have to retired. With batteries to overcome the problem of intermittency, there is no reason why wind could not replace nearly all nuclear plants, except in places such as Georgia where there is not much wind. Natural gas, wind and solar could replace all coal plants now. http://awea.files.cms-plus.com/FileDownloads/pdfs/AWEA%20U.S.%20Wind%20Industry%20Annual%20Market%20Update%202012.pdf - Jed
