Massive Spotsylvania solar plant is online

[NNadir]

12. You do realize, don't you, you can access something called "data" for free?

No?

I do it all the time. Try it some time.

If one were to have a sense of honor, one might look at data before offering weakly trying to insult people who access and use data, but no matter. I've been studying energy seriously for more than 30 years in the primary scientific literature, and I am fully aware of people who are disinterested in facts. In fact, it's a popular thing these days, so much so, that my AAAS tee shirt had printed on it the tautological statement, "Facts are facts." That shouldn't be controversial, but it is.

For an example of readily available data, the CAISO supply page provides data for all the solar facilities in the State of California in real time in 5 minute increments. If one has not joined Greenpeace, and therefore is not excluded from being able to do mathematics, one could, if one gave a shit, do simple calculations using low level Excel formulas. If one is interested, one can readily calculate the capacity utilization of all the solar, and for that matter, all of the wind facilities in that gas dependent State, which is the largest producer of solar energy in the world.

One can choose any date, by using the dropdown menu in the upper right hand of any graphic, and download a CSV file of the actual data using the dropdown menu in the upper left hand menu.

The 2020 capacity of solar facilities in the State was 15,637.7 MW.

Many days, for example today, I download the CSV files for both so called "renewable energy" and total energy for the previous day which are available on the supply.

If one is not a handwaving fool who expects to make unsupported and unreferenced Pablum announcements thus demonstrating the Dunning Kruger effect being operative, one can use this data to support or refute one's statements using such data.

Of course, I could mimic Dr. Fauci's remark to Senator Paul in this context, but why bother?

The people who have lazily bet the future of humanity on their solar energy fantasies, piss me off, because their ignorance is destroying the future. We hit 420 ppm of the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide in the planetary atmosphere because people are too lazy to open science books, or peruse data sites, many of which are freely available.

They're not worth the blood pressure spike to engage them, and they all end up on my ignore list. We have enough delusional people with whom we must deal in the Republican Party, and it is disheartening to see similarly delusional people in our Party. The flaws of one's own are always worse than external flaws.

Before I wish you a nice life, some data analysis, using simple Excel functions operated on the CSV files, from the 7/20/21 24 hour data available at the CAISO website:

In the entire State of California, over the 24 hour period of 7/20/21 the output of the "15,637.7 MW" of solar capacity varied between a high of 11,835 MW, observed in the 5 minute period beginning at 13:35 PDT (1:35 PM PDT), and a low of -50 MW, which represents the energy losses associated with powering the connectors when the solar cells are producing zero energy.

The number of five minute periods in the 288 data points in which the capacity utilization was 100% was zero. In fact, the number of 288 periods where all the solar plants supplying California were functioning at 90% of capacity utilization was zero. In fact, the number of 288 periods where all the solar plants supplying California were functioning at 80% of capacity utilization was zero. The number of 5 minute periods out of 288 where the capacity utilization was more than 70% is 47 representing 235 minutes, or a little under 4 hours of a 24 hour day. In fact, the number of 288 periods where all the solar plants supplying California were functioning less than 10% of capacity utilization was 139, representing 695 minutes, a shade under 12 hours.

The highest capacity utilization was at the aforementioned peak, 13:35 PDT (1:35 PM PDT) which was 75.80%. The standard deviation for all 288 five minute periods in the 24 hours was an enormous 31.0% (as measured in the percent talk that solar advocates use to misrepresent the "success" of their useless and expensive fantasy.)

This is the data for the whole damned State of California, plus solar imports from Arizona and Nevada.

Great job!

Have a nice life; I wish I could say I enjoyed this interaction, but I can't; nevertheless surely and thankfully, it will be the last between us.