multiplication

The passage around this formula

The second confusion is with capacity factor . Power density is an area-normalised output rate; capacity factor is a time-normalised one. They multiply rather than substitute. Writing energy generated as E over a period t across area A , with nameplate capacity C and capacity factor f : $P_d = \frac{E}{A\,t} = \frac{C}{A} \times f = C_d\,f$. The first factor, capacity density $C_d$ , is a siting and engineering question; the second is a resource and dispatch question. Miller and Keith’s US measurements make the separation visible: they report 2016 mean capacity factors of 32.9 per cent for wind and 22.1 per cent for solar, with 90th-percentile values of 43 and 27.5 per cent, alongside power densities that are not in the same…

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