Calculation and Validation of Weather-Informed Renewable Generator Capacities in the Identification of Renewable Resource Droughts

This paper presents a weather-informed calculation of wind and solar photovoltaic generation capacity, validates the calculated capacity against wind and solar generation totals from the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2021, and applies the validated technique to determine wind and solar resource droughts in the United States for 1973–2022. As renewable generation sources rely on variable resources such as wind or solar irradiance, the actual availability of the renewable resources may be insufficient if electric grid studies and analyses are performed using its rated capacity. Improved methods for more accurately calculating renewable power outputs given weather data are discussed and resource drought examples are presented for U.S. states with high amounts of renewable generation.