Comments on: Germany’s Offshore Wind Farm Alpha Ventus Fed 267.8 GWH Into Grid In 2012

By: Otis11

Otis11 — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:13:00 +0000

That number is saying that it produced some electricity during 96.5% of the hours in the year, but it wasn’t at full capacity the entire time. The hours you divided to give you what should have been 50.9% is the average capacity factor as ThomasGerke stated.

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:07:00 +0000

Giving you a thumbs up but also noting that stoking a bit of national rivalry can be useful for motivational reasons.

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:57:00 +0000

If "Germany is trying to lead the way in offshore wind power", it has a way to go. The UK has 3.3 GW in operation today, Denmark 1GW. It is deeply unsound to see this race in mercantilist terms as one of "leadership", aka monopolistic domination. It's economically nice for a country to have a good technological base in fast-growing industries, that's all. We should be glad that no one country enjoys such "leadership" in either wind or solar. And unlike fossil fuels, installation creates no long-term dependence and insecurity. Nobody is ever going to start a war with Denmark to secure control of its wind turbine factories.

By: ThomasGerke

ThomasGerke — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:13:00 +0000

It had a capacity factor of 50.9% (a number missing somewhere up there).

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:45:00 +0000

I’d say, that looks more like a yield of 50.3%?!?!