Date Published: November 2018

Authors: Joanna H. Slusarewicz, Daniel S. Cohan

This paper quantitatively highlights the potential resource complementarity between solar and wind resources with geographic diversity, using discrete locations throughout ERCOT as a case study. Analyzing both power production capabilities and resource variability, the report demonstrates the benefits of diversification using metrics such as combined capacity factors, coefficients of variance, firm capacity and peak average capacity percentage (PACP). The quantitative findings suggest that certain wind and solar resource pairs are potentially able to increase reliable power production on an annual basis, while geographically diverse combinations may optimize for daily reliable production.

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