[aerohead]

Since 'solar' can't defend itself against the 'coal faction,' I'll introduce the data, regarding ' supply intermittence.'
This data is from 1989, so bear this in mind, however you probably won't find this sort of information in the prospectus's of coal companies:
* Out of 8640-hours a year, the average coal-fired electric power plant is online for 6718-hours.
* 77.7% of the time.
* Out of service 1922-hours/year ( 22.24% offline )
* Each 4.5- power plants require the equivalent of 1-additional power plant to cover their load during their 1922-hours of downtime.
* A 600-MW boiler consumes 2,799,166-tons of coal/year ( Solar, zero fuel )
* The same boiler consumes 39,188,333-tons of atmosphere/ year ( Solar, zero )
* Some Southern coal-fired power plants require a 3,000-mile railroad roundtrip for daily fueling, and multiple trains a day. ( Solar requires zero 'fuel' transportation ).
* The 1,500-mile return trip is all dead-heading, no productive work being produced from diesel-powered locomotives, plus helper locomotives added to assist in climbing grades. Half -way across the USA carrying 'nothing.' ( Solar requires nonesuch )