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Reliance on solar could generate other consequences
Chet Sullivan
Sep. 4, 2022 7:00 am
The letter by Tom Dricken in the Aug. 29 edition of The Gazette about solar power's low "capacity factor" is right. The reason for this is that Cedar Rapids only gets 6.56 hours of effective energy-producing sunlight in the middle of summer when the days are longest. As a consequence of this, fossil fuel generation is needed for the rest of the time as well as to charge the 75 MW battery planned for phase II. We may belatedly find, as Duke Power in North Carolina did, that construction of solar power facilities actually causes an increase in the need for fossil fuels and hence an increase in carbon emissions.
Chet Sullivan
Marion
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