See: <http://www.awea.org/blog/>http://www.awea.org/blog/
"The wind industry had a good year in 2009, adding at least 7,000 MW of capacity, despite the poor economy. It followed a spectacular 2008 (8,500 MW) and terrific 2007(5,200 MW). . . ."
Assuming 30% capacity factor that's 2.1 GW actual. Converting capacity factors and so on that comes to about 2.4 nukes. That's very substantial. The U.S. has ~100 nukes, most built between 1965 and 1975.
The IAEA says there are 53 nukes under construction worldwide, with 47 GB capacity. Mainly in China.
<http://www.masterresource.org/2009/11/global-nuclear-plant-construction-moves-forward-except-in-the-u-s/>http://www.masterresource.org/2009/11/global-nuclear-plant-construction-moves-forward-except-in-the-u-s/
This source says nuke capacity factors worldwide are 83%. That's a lot lower than the U.S., which was around 90% to 95% last I checked. It varies a lot because some plants go 100% off line for months or years when they discover a big problem, or in response to the earthquake in Japan. That never happens with wind farms.
- Jed
