The intermittency problem
The physics of windmills

In the absence of other arrangements, wind generation cannot guarantee the balance between generation and consumption. It must be supported by complementary dispatchable generation. The power of a wind farm cannot exceed the maximum power required by consumption, except deliberately limiting the power produced by the wind turbines, which is difficult to accept economically. Under these conditions it can be shown  that wind can only contribute to generation up to its load factor, at best about 25%, in France. This generation, being...