[rembal]

I'm too lazy to double check the numbers, but as far as I remember, Germany in order to increase it's average generation by 10% had to expand capacity by 70% in solar plus wind. With stats like this, there's a thin line between progress and waste. And all this while we have nuclear. (How the world really works, Vaclav smil if anybody is less lazy than me)

[ceejayoz]

> With stats like this, there's a thin line between progress and waste.

Humanity does far more wasteful things than build some extra solar panels.

[uecker]

No, capacity factor is a distraction. The only meaningful question is whether it is cost effective or not compared to other production methods,, and solar - taking into account the low capacity factor - is starting to look very good.

[lnsru]

I would say as electrician in Bavaria: there are enough empty roofs for solar. Especially in poorer neighborhoods. I saw similar numbers and they are scary: to reliably replace conventional power plant one needs 20x the power of wind and solar. And this hardware must be imported from China, there is no large scale production of solar equipment in Europe.

[uecker]

Better importing solar panels once in a while than importing fossil fuels all the time.