Wind power projects are being rapidly developed throughout the Northwest, and the region’s existing power system can most likely accommodate the 6000 MW of wind energy anticipated by 2024 – or perhaps much sooner given the current pace of development. However, there will be costs to incorporate these new wind sources as well as a need for additional investments in high-voltage transmission lines, new regulatory and utility cost recovery policies and recognition in the Northwest that wind by itself cannot meet the region’s future power needs. These are central conclusions in the Northwest Wind Integration Action Plan that was released last month by a group of Northwest energy industry leaders.

The broad group of energy experts releasing this consensus report – including leaders of state utility commissions, public and investor-owned utilities, wind power developers, renewable power interests, environmental groups and others – was convened last summer by the Bonneville Power Administration and Northwest Power and Conservation Council. The group’s mission was to study all aspects of how to make wind power fit into the region’s existing power system.

“This action plan will help the Northwest take advantage of an abundant source of renewable energy while protecting the reliability of the regional power supply,” Council Chair Tom Karier said.

“This regional effort concludes that more wind power projects can be incorporated into the Northwest power system,” said Steve Wright, BPA administrator. “To maintain a reliable electricity system, there are costs that need to be addressed, transmission resources that need to be built, and wind resources will need to be supplemented by non-wind generation. These challenges can be solved, but we need to get after them.”

Key points of the Northwest Wind Integration Action Plan
from the consensus view of the Steering Committee

1) There are no fundamental technical barriers to operating 6000 MW of wind in the Pacific Northwest.
There is a range of estimated costs associated with integrating wind into the Northwest system necessary to ensure reliable service. When wind energy is added to a utility system, its natural variability and uncertainty is combined with the natural variability and uncertainty of loads. As a result, there is an increase in the need for flexibility services required to maintain utility system balance and reliability.

Conceptually, the cost of wind integration starts low, particularly when integrating with a hydropower system that has substantial flexibility, and then rises as increasing amounts of wind are added. Costs ultimately plateau at the cost of integrating wind with natural gas power plants.

With increasing amounts of wind, there will likely be times when large, unexpected changes in wind output (so-called “ramping events”) coincide with periods of limited hydro flexibility. Initial analyses indicate that these will be low probability events, but if other sources of flexibility are not available at the same time, system operators will need to limit wind output for brief periods to maintain reliability. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now requires wind plant operators to help protect system reliability. Northwest utilities and wind developers are collaborating to implement the requirement in a mutually satisfactory and cost-effective manner.

2) Wind energy is providing value to Northwest electricity consumers, but the Northwest will still need other resources to meet peak loads.
The fundamental value of wind is its ability to provide energy to displace fossil fuel consumption, limit exposure to uncertain and volatile fuel prices and hedge against possible greenhouse gas control costs. Wind is primarily an energy resource with relatively little contribution to meeting system peak requirements. Wind by itself cannot provide reliable electric service, and the Northwest will need to build other resources to meet growing peak loads.

3) In the very short term there is available transmission capacity to integrate additional wind resources – but this is not expected to last for long.
New transmission will be needed and can help open up new areas for wind development, helping to diversify wind production. This diversity helps smooth variability and therefore lowers the cost of wind integration. Because wind operates at its nameplate capacity a relatively small fraction of the time, traditional models for transmission development and marketing will need to be altered to achieve greater economic efficiency. A more economical and efficient approach for a resource such as wind is to provide a mix of firm, nonfirm, and conditional firm transmission that achieves a balance between the cost of transmission capacity and the value of delivered wind energy.

4) The major portion of wind integration costs will be incurred due to additional efforts by system operators to balance loads and resources in real time in order to accommodate wind variability.
These entities must have flexible resources available to them to ensure that reliable service will be maintained and that there is an ability to recover the associated costs.

5) We can increase integration capability and lower integration costs.
The cost of wind integration services can be reduced through generally four types of actions: (1) encourage more cooperation among regional utilities to spread the variability of wind more broadly; (2) develop markets that will reward entities with existing flexibility who choose to market that flexibility; (3) make more low-cost flexibility, such as that provided by hydroelectric resources, available; and (4) create and apply new flexibility technologies. Producing these results will require coordination. Fortunately, the region has a long history of forging cooperative agreements designed to increase the value for all regional consumers that provide a model for what will be needed over the next several years to address wind integration issues.

The Northwest Wind Integration Action Plan will serve as a guide for utilities and state regulatory commissions as they plan their resource strategies in the future.