When the wind isn’t blowing (or if it is blowing too hard) and the sun isn’t shining (at night) it doesn’t matter what the nameplate capacity states, the output will be at zero from both “unreliables”. If the storage issue gets figured out, then wind and solar become more viable, but we will always need some sort of reliable power generation.
To your point, it sounds like you already found real world proof that refutes Pollack’s premise anyhow.
When the wind isn’t blowing (or if it is blowing too hard) and the sun isn’t shining (at night) it doesn’t matter what the nameplate capacity states, the output will be at zero from both “unreliables”.
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And that’s a fact. Anybody with an interest in the makeup of electrical supplier will at some time had a discussion with a ‘greenie envirowacko’ who when faced with the question about capacity and reliability, is apt to say something inane like “we just need more wind turbines and solar panels... the wind is always blowing or the sun is shining somewhere.” I got into such a discussion recently... when this occurs, I often refer to the IESO website (Independent Electricity System Operator). This is for the Province of Ontario. Why Ontario? It’s because it is the largest single landmass in North America that has a very high level of IWTs (just a tad less than 3,000) spread over a very broad area (spanning about 1,000 miles from the IWTs at the farthest east to the ones installed at the farthest west) and at a glance, one can see how all of them are performing in real time. I’ve had occasions where I’ve challenged a greenie to go look at the real time data and much to their chagrin, the output is typically pitiful and, in some instances, I’ve seen it at zero . As a matter of fact, right now the total output is only 500 MW… and this from just under 3,000 IWTs? https://www.ieso.ca/localContent/map/default.htm
There is a blogger in Ontario named Parker Gallant who has been a complete bulldog on this issue. Back in July, he addressed a question similar to the discussion on WUWT with Monckton. The question Gallant tackled was this… “How many wind turbines would be needed to replace Ontario’s gas plants?” The answer he calculated was 34,000 IWTs at an average size of 2.5 MW which is basically 12 times what they have now….. but that was qualified as being what was needed on the particular day in question. If there is no wind, an infinite number of IWTs will still only generate zero MW. https://parkergallantenergyperspectivesblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/27/how-many-wind-turbines-needed-to-replace-ontarios-gas-plants/
By the way… every time I hear someone use the word ‘renewables’, I use the word ‘unreliables’… or the ‘intermittents’ or sometimes, the ‘intermittent unreliables’.