Arizona solar project reaches 100MW mark

[PamW]

2. Not even close..

A 100 Mw(e) power plant is about 10% the size of a typical coal or nuclear unit.

Additionally, that 100 Mw(e) is the peak power; not the average power.

What is missing is something called the "capacity factor" which is the ratio of the actual energy a power plant develops in a given time, divided by the amount of energy it could generate if it were able to operate at its maximum output for that same period of time.

For "dispachable" power plants, like fossil, hydro, and nuclear which are power "on demand"; the typical capacity factor is in the high 90%s.

For a solar power plant, the peak capacity factor that it can ever reach is less than 50%; because solar power plants don't provide any energy at night.

PamW