Wind Energy Poised For Incorporation Into Electric Power System, New Study Finds
Wind power could reliably comprise up to one-fourth of Midwestern utilities’ delivered energy, according to the Midwest Wind Integration Study.
Wind power could reliably comprise up to one-fourth of Midwestern utilities’ delivered energy, according to the Midwest Wind Integration Study.
The total integration cost for providing up to 25 percent wind energy to all Minnesota customers is less than one-half cent ($0.0045) per kWh of wind generation, according to the study. The 25 percent penetration level of wind — similar to that provided in the U.S. today by nuclear power (20 percent), or natural gas and hydropower combined (25 percent) — would be possible in the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) service area if the right policies and conditions were in place, including control area consolidation, geographic diversity of the wind power, and adequate transmission, says the report.
“The Minnesota study shows that, when the wind generation is spread around the state, and MISO markets and operators do what they do best, integration costs are a small concern,” says American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) deputy policy director Mike Jacobs. “Like the studies that have come before, this report shows the relative ease in absorbing the wind — opening the way for wind energy’s benefits to be reaped on a large scale for consumers, and for our economy, environment, and energy security.”
The study was required by the Minnesota legislature in 2005 to evaluate reliability and other impacts of higher levels of wind generation and carried out independently by EnerNex Corporation and WindLogics. The study evaluated the reliability and costs associated with increasing wind capacity to 15 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent of Minnesota retail electric energy sales by 2020. The study process included a Technical Review Committee comprised of numerous stakeholders from both the private and public sector.
“Denmark and several regions in Europe have already achieved such high levels of wind energy use,” says J. Charles Smith, Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) executive director. “What this study provides is insight into how such levels can also be accommodated here in the U.S., and the conclusion is clear: under good system conditions such as those in the MISO service territory, wind energy can be readily integrated into the utility system.”
Even though wind provides less than 1 percent of total U.S. electricity generation today, with 2,700 megawatts (MW) expected to be completed in 2006, wind will be the second-largest source of new power generation (in both new capacity installed and new electricity produced) for the second year in a row, according to the study.
The full Minnesota report can be found on the Minnesota Public Utilities
Web site .
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