According to the US DoE and National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) study called Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study (EWITS), it could be quite possible to achieve 20% of wind energy supply on the Eastern Interconnection’s electrical load. The 2.5 year study looked at various economic, operational and technical implications.
According to the findings, multiple scenarios have been analyzed, all of which could lead to achieving this seemingly ambitious goal. All of the considered scenarios do, however, require upgrades to the existing transmission system, so it is recommended that planning for this starts immediately.
Some of the key findings in the study are:
- 20 percent wind energy integrations is technically feasible – requires significant expansion of the transmission infrastructure and system operational changes
- with no transmission enhancements, substantial curtailment of wind generation would be needed for all 20% wind scenarios considered
- cost of aggressive expansion in existing transmission system miniscule when compared to total annual cost of any of the scenarios
- a larger area of generation is less expensive; geographic diversity of wind energy projects makes combined wind power more predicatble and stable
- wind energy is one of the best ways to reduce carbon emissions
- carbon emissions are reduced nearly equally in all scenarios; won't result in coal power getting transferred to other areas of the country
- reduced fossil fuel expenditures provide more than enough funds to finance the increased costs of additional transmission in high wind scenarios
More than 70% of the US population gets power from the Eastern Interconnect, so putting clean power through the Eastern grid is a good start towards providing clean power for the whole country. A larger infrastructure is needed for the power to be moved around, if more wind power capacity is to be brought online.
[source: NREL, image: NREL]
