Wind turbine net capacity factor: Is 50% the new normal? by Zachary Shahan

CleanTechnica

Anyone who hangs around in the comments section of sites covering wind energy knows one thing — clean energy haters love to talk about wind turbine capacity factor. In particular, they love to chant the now quite untrue claim that wind turbines have a capacity factor of 20-30%.If you’re not familiar with capacity factor, it is how much electricity a power plant actually produces compared to how much it would produce if it operated at full nameplate capacity 100% of the time.No power plant operates at 100 per cent capacity factor. NREL’s new Transparent Cost Database shows the following capacity factors:

– Natural gas combustion turbines — Minimum: 10%; Median: 80%; Maximum: 93%

– Natural gas combined cycle — Minimum: 40%; Median: 84.6%; Maximum: 93%

– Coal, pulverized & scrubbed — Minimum: 80%; Median: 84.6%; Maximum: 93%

– Nuclear — Minimum: 85%; Median: 90%; Maximum: 90.24%

– Biopower — Minimum: 75%; Median: 84%; Maximum: 85%

– Hydropower — Minimum: 35%; Median: 50%; Maximum: 93.2%

– Enhanced geothermal — Minimum: 80%; Median: 90%; Maximum: 95%

– Solar PV – Minimum: 16%; Median: 21%; Maximum: 28%

– Offshore wind – Minimum: 27%; Median: 43%; Maximum: 54%

– Onshore wind – Minimum: 24%; Median: 40.35%; Maximum: 50.6%

Where Does Capacity Factor Fit Into Things?

Now, before moving on to the focus of this article, here’s one more thing to note:

Clean energy haters love to talk about capacity factor because it’s clearly a metric wind, solar, and hydro don’t win at (though, geothermal and biopower actually do very well). However, capacity factor by itself is really not that important. What’s important is the total cost of producing electricity. In the energy field, levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is one of the most important metrics. This is “an estimate of total electricity cost including payback of initial investment and operating costs,” as NREL writes.