The Performance of Wind and Solar Generating Plants

Government subsidies have driven rapid growth in U.S. wind and solar generation. Using data on hourly outputs and prices for a sample of 25 wind and nine solar generating plants, some results of those subsidies are studied in detail: the value of these plants' outputs, the variability of output at plant and regional levels, and the variation in performance among plants and regions. Output from solar plants was about 32% more valuable on average than output from wind plants. Output variability differs substantially among plants and, on some dimensions, among regions. Policy implications of key findings are discussed, including regular generation in the face of negative spot prices and dramatic differences in capacity factors.

Speaker: Richard Schmalensee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology