Method note · estimate
Implied capacity factor
What it measures
Capacity factor: how much of a fleet's possible output at year-end capacity it produced over the year, from Ember's generation and capacity figures.
Inputs
- Ember's yearly generation per country and technology, terawatt-hours
- Ember's year-end installed capacity per country and technology, gigawatts
Method and weighting
The implied capacity factor, how much of a fleet's possible output it generated over the year, is the year's generation divided by what the year-end fleet would have produced running at full output for every hour of the year: the fleet's capacity multiplied by the number of hours in a year, converted from gigawatts to the generation's unit.
A fleet below a fixed minimum size is left out, because the ratio would not be meaningful at that scale, and so is a year with either figure missing for a country and technology.
A ratio above one, more output than the fleet could make running every hour of the year, is left out as well. It means Ember's generation and capacity figures count different plants: biomass burned in coal plants, for example, is bioenergy generation on coal capacity. Most of France's early bioenergy record is left out for this reason.
Window
Calendar years as Ember publishes them; the latest year is the last complete one. Data last refreshed on .
Known limits
- Capacity is measured at year end, so a fleet that grew quickly during the year reads low.
- It is implied from two yearly totals and says nothing about any month.
- Germany's solar series switches from panel rating to inverter rating partway through the record; the view marks the break.
Used on
- Capacity Factor in The Build-out
Sources: Ember. Each is described on the Data sources page.