this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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US solar power capacity to expand by record 32 gigawatts in 2023, report says (www.reuters.com)
submitted 2 years ago by lntl@lemmy.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
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The U.S. solar industry expects to add a record 32 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity this year, up 53% on new capacity in 2022 and helped by investment incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, a report published on Thursday showed.

32 GW is a lot. The average thermal coal generating station in the US is 1GW and these stations have an average capacity of 50%. That means that this colar prodution capacity enables us to displace 64 coal stations during the daytime if consumption does not grow.

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[–] zoe 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

200w capacity in 1 square meter ? rather use windmills instead (especially offshore)

[–] photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Or just put them in places where people can't live easily, like the desert, which is what's being done. Also, we can do both!

[–] zoe 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

excessive heat makes panel inefficient. they need to be cool to reach maximum efficiency (at 26°c) .. might as well install them offshore..but still, remote place is best place

[–] lntl@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

solar actually gets a greater power density. most wind projects in the US get about 2.5 MW/km^2

[–] zoe 1 points 2 years ago

ie 250w per square meter, but it doesnt get affected by heat.1 square km could then host 2Mw of solar and 2.5Mw of wind. I always wondered how efficient wind is. according to google, a windmill produces 3 Gwh per year, some read 8Gwh, idk what to believe. i would be interested if there were more estate efficient form of renewable