Comment by mlyons1340
3 days ago
Texas’ capacity was 113000 MW yesterday so 1.5MW doesn’t seem significant. Am I understanding this wrong?
3 days ago
Texas’ capacity was 113000 MW yesterday so 1.5MW doesn’t seem significant. Am I understanding this wrong?
Wrong comparator. 1.5MW nominal output is comparable to a large wind turbine.
For instance, there's the https://www.esig.energy/wiki-main-page/general-electric-1-5-..., which has ~40m blades. The AR1500 (which is what these tidal generators are using) is smaller, with "only" 9m blades.
So it's significant in that these aren't toy devices, they fit in a very similar place in the engineering ecosystem as conventional wind. They should be a real competitor.
In 2025, the large commercially deployed wind turbines are like 15MW for offshore and 6MW for onshore.
GE's 1.5MW models are 20 years old.
Can you even still buy new 1.5MW wind turbines?
Why are you comparing a single turbine in Scotland to the entirety of the state of Texas's supply (thousands of turbines)?
hundreds of thousands.
Are you really comparing a single experimental turbine's handwaved output with the consumption of an entire state with a population as big as the bigger European countries?
Yeah, and a solar panel might only produce 250 watt, that would mean solar is also not significant /s