I wrote:
> At the rate wind is expanding it will not take centuries to catch up with > nuclear power. It is increasing at around 13 GW nameplate per year, or > about 4 nukes. > In other words, at this rate, wind will catch up to nukes and produce ~20% of our electricity in about 20 years. It has to reach about 100 GW actual to do that. It is at 18 GW now and it has another 80 to go. It is increasing at 4 GW actual per year. This may not seem like it adds up. ~100 MW satisfies ~20% of demand. So 500 MW would be enough for the whole country? Nope. As I said, U.S. capacity is 1,000 GW. Because most generators are not run at full capacity 24 hours a day. They are not needed. There is no demand at night. The 1,000 GW is needed to meet peak demand. There is also less demand in winter than summer in many places. Those are round numbers. But as it happens, total net summer capacity is just a tad over 1,000 MW, a nice round number: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/capacity/ - Jed
