Capacity Factor

The fraction of nameplate power a plant actually delivers over time.

Capacity factor is the ratio of energy actually produced to what the plant could produce running flat-out. For any fusion plant it depends on availability — uptime between maintenance — which Kronos flags as a key open study rather than an assumption.

Capacity factor — energy actually produced over what the plant could produce flat-out — depends on availability, which depends in turn on component lifetimes and maintenance speed. Kronos flags availability, and therefore capacity factor, as a key open study rather than an assumed number, expecting it to improve with operating experience.