Capacity factor of wind power plants in the Czech Republic according to different sources varies in a huge range from pessimistic “4–14 %” to the optimistic “up to 36 %”. The problem arises when via press releases of the ČTK (Czech Press Agency) erroneous data are distributed, which then influences the public debate.
In fact, the average annual capacity factor of the whole set of wind power plants in the Czech Republic is around 20 % or slightly above this level in the last five years. In the longer term the capacity factor increases, because newer wind farms have annual capacity factor about 25 %.
Pessimistic value of the capacity factor below 15 %, are in a better case based on outdated information, or on data from inconvenient installation locations or turbines with technical problems. In the worst case this involves a focused misinformation. If they are published by not direct opponents of wind energy, suggests such values, if they are considered to be related to the total production of electricity from wind in the Czech Republic, the ignorance of the issue.
Optimistic values around 25 % may be related to newer wind turbines in the Czech Republic. Values well above 25 % could be a data of individual wind turbines, results of a shorter period, or the expected results of future installations of which the rated power of the generator is less than would correspond to the size of the rotor.