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I would like to understand where your (roughly) 1 to 1000 ratio for oil/natgas to PV/wind workers is coming from. The relatively low LCOE of PV and wind strongly put in question this number. I could imagine that this number was derived from just dividing the number of TWh generated from PV and wind by the number of workers in this industry. But as RE is ramping up, most workers are in the business of building new plants, not maintaining the power plants already in operation. This is in contrast to the already mature fossil fuel industry where most workers are taking care of the already existing installations.
I never said anything about LCOE. My data was about the physics of power density. Cost is almost irrelevant if capacity is limited as it is for solar and wind.
Dear Art,
I would like to understand where your (roughly) 1 to 1000 ratio for oil/natgas to PV/wind workers is coming from. The relatively low LCOE of PV and wind strongly put in question this number. I could imagine that this number was derived from just dividing the number of TWh generated from PV and wind by the number of workers in this industry. But as RE is ramping up, most workers are in the business of building new plants, not maintaining the power plants already in operation. This is in contrast to the already mature fossil fuel industry where most workers are taking care of the already existing installations.
Best greetings
Günter
Günter,
I never said anything about LCOE. My data was about the physics of power density. Cost is almost irrelevant if capacity is limited as it is for solar and wind.
Best,
Art