MORE WIND IS EASY

How Countries Can Integrate Wind Power Smoothly Into Power Systems
November 12, 2009 (Technical Research Centre of Finland via Science Daily)

"Some countries already get a substantial share of their electricity consumption from wind power: Denmark 20%, Spain and Portugal 11%, Ireland 9%, and Germany 7%. [All power plants] have to cope with variable electricity consumption. Variable wind power will increase variations that the power system has to manage. According to a recent IEA WIND report, wind energy is rather smoothly integrated as system operators get on-line production levels and forecasted production estimates in their control rooms.

"High penetration of wind power is foreseen in many countries and regions globally…[and] the impacts of wind power on power system reliability…have been studied] in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK and USA."

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"Adding large amounts of wind power requires reinforcing the existing transmission grid, including the interconnectors between countries and regions. New transmission lines may be needed where the wind resource is situated far from the existing network. Wind power will also increase the use of operational balancing power…[E]stimates for added balancing costs [range from]…1-4 €/MWh…10% or less of the wholesale value of the wind energy…

"It is easier to balance load and wind production from larger areas…because both wind variability and uncertainty will be reduced when geographically diverse power plants are aggregated…[and big] open electricity markets combined with intra-day and real-time trading lead to lower electricity costs…[and fewer] forecast errors…"

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"…Building the transmission for final amount of wind power will be more cost effective than reinforcing the grid piece by piece. Ambitious wind power targets in Ireland, Denmark, Germany, UK and US already foresee major upgrades in the transmission network. This is challenging, as building permits for new lines are difficult to obtain…[but the] so called capacity value of wind power is lower than for conventional power, and will decrease…

"New electricity storage…for wind penetration levels of 10-20%…will be beneficial for the power system operation. However, other forms of [integration] flexibility…can offer cheaper solutions…In any case, it is not cost effective to provide dedicated back-up for wind power in large power systems, just as it is not done for individual electricity consumption."