Re: Yes, it's not on most of the time.
Capacity factor of a 1/3 means that over a year it will produce roughly 1/3 of its theoretical maximum
ie. a 1GW generator will not produce 24GWhrs a day ... but 8GWhrs ...
this is NOT the same as producing full power for 1/3 of the time and nothing for the rest!
yes power scales as wind speed cubed ... but there is control capability to smooth that out at low wind speeds ... and at medium high wind speeds the generator maxes out power wise so the controls are designed to limit power output
As has been said (countless times!) the solution lies in a nice mixture
In my opinion its something like
Wind turbines ... lots ... offshore by preference ... perhaps with wave power mixed in using the structures as a base
Hydro and Tidal ... as much as we can manage
nuclear ... lots ... we need to find somewhere to store the crap though
Import links ... we'll need some of these
New technology ... we need to keep looking
Storage ... we desperately need some good storage