Increased wind power adoption contingent upon transmission improvements

20-Jan-2010

The East Coast of the U.S. could get as much as 20 percent of its electricity from wind sources by 2024, a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says.

The study cites the rapid uptake of wind energy in some European markets as evidence that quick adoption of wind is technically feasible, but cautions that transmission upgrades will need to be made for a significant amount of wind power to be tied to the grid.

Already, the NREL noted, some grids are having trouble integrating new wind energy systems.

And the capital outlays involved in such an undertaking would be substantial. The NREL drafted four possible wind adoption scenarios with a combination of capacity installations in the windy Great Plans, onshore near eastern population centers and offshore in the Atlantic; of these, capital costs associated with wind power installation were the greatest contributor to wind projects' total expense.

But all four scenarios would offset significant amounts of carbon emissions by displacing coal-fired power plants; in addition, the transmission upgrades on which large-scale wind power is contingent would contribute to the grid's overall stability and better connect the eastern U.S. with the West.

"Incorporating high amounts of wind power in the Eastern grid goes a long way towards clean power for the whole country," NREL project manager David Corbus said.

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