Comment by Animats
7 months ago
Here's the CAISO wind graph. This is the total wind energy from four large states. Note that the low point is 1/7 that of the peak, which is around noon.[1] Here's the PJM wind graph.[2] Low point is about 1/4 the peak, again, around local noon.
It just doesn't "average out" across even a sizable country.
[1] https://www.caiso.com/todays-outlook/supply
[2] https://dataviewer.pjm.com/dataviewer/pages/public/wind.jsf
Now click the demand view.
It goes dramatically up and down on a daily pattern, too.
The demand curve and the wind curve are not synchronized in any way. Solar at least peaks with peak air conditioning load.
If only we could store some energy for a while!