The Beautiful Thing about Offshore Wind & Solar Combined
JUNE 26, 2012 BY
Wind and solar, on their own, each have wonderful qualities, qualities that make them the two most popular electricity choices and that make them two of the cleanest. However, something that I think doesn’t get nearly enough attention is that solar and wind complement each other greatly.
Solar energy and wind energy peak at different times.
Offshore wind is an especially good match because it peaks later in the day than solar, after the hot sunshine has soaked into the earth and stimulated a breeze offshore, but while electricity demand is still peaking.
“When heat builds up on land along the coast with the cold ocean next to it, there is a natural updraft and a down draft at sea,” State University of New York atmospheric sciences researcher Richard Perez says. “The wind comes in. Inland a few miles, there will be no wind but on the coast and immediately offshore there will be. If you have been on the beach on a hot afternoon, you will know this.”
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1fXJy)
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