this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
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wind is still doing well, supplying 100% of the power in my city. (i assume that is some sort of ammortization with sometimes we export wind othertimes buy gas)
Wind's not doing terribly, but in the last decade solar has seen something like a 7fold increase in prevalence while wind has only seen closer to a doubling.
There's a chicken and egg problem here. These products are on learning curves. The more you sell, the cheaper they get, the more they sell. Solar has a killer feature -- it's ridiculous modularity. It scales from facilities that are acres and acres large all the way down to the roof of a van. That scalability has been a big part of driving demand for PVs beyond anyone's predictions.
Wind needs some help. Again, these energy sources are ridiculously complementary and we need both for the future. I want to see wind keeping pace with solar PV. If it can do that, natural gas is going to be wiped out by them.
Solar has another huge advantage. No moving parts. Moving parts mean more complexity, more maintenance, and more failures. We need wind but it's never going to be as simple and reliable as solar.