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Comment by Animats

2 days 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.