Seattle enjoys 47% sunshine [of the possible] per year. Most cities of the USA are only about 60% so it's no a vast difference. London, England, suffers only 1 or 2 hours a day of sunshine during Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb. You don't have to go to the north pole to get the problem. London is near enough. Hordes of people live north of 40 degrees.
There's a reason people in England traditionally discuss the weather. There is a lot of it. If their electricity supply conked out each time a cloud came over, they would be discussing the weather a lot more. They would also discuss the economics of photovoltaics too. Photovoltaics make sense where land is cheap desert and sunshine hours are long. Australia for example. Las Vegas/Death Valley. If they were built over the roads leading to Las Vegas, cars could drive in shade [saving on air conditioning] and the cables could supply 7SSSSs and Las Vegas.
Las Vegas enjoys over 80% sunshine hours a year.
In London:
Mean sunshine hours in London, England range from 1:15 for each day in December to 6:52 for every day in JuneThe longest day of the year is 16:23 long and the shortest day is 7:36 long.The longest day is 8:47 longer than the shortest day.There is an average of 1460 hours of sunlight per year (of a possible 4383) with an average of 3:59 of sunlight per day.It is sunny 33.3% of daylight hours. The remaining 66.7% of daylight hours are likely cloudy or with shade, haze or low sun intensity.At midday the sun is on average 38.9° above the horizon at London, England.
Photovoltaics in London don't make sense.
With photovoltaics, batteries are needed, or energy storage such as electrolysis of water to make hydrogen . Use that hydrogen to hydrogenate fuel oil to make good gasoline or jet fuel. There are many ways energy can be stored from photovoltaics.
But if it's not a sunny place, it's a waste of money.
Mqurice
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