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Energy in the News
Lack of Transmission Capacity Throttling Wind Farms A lack of electric transmission capacity is curbing energy that wind turbine operators can feed local grids, a problem that is likely to worsen until new transmission projects are completed, a new study says. The report commissioned by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found wind "curtailment" events -- when turbine farms are instructed or agree to limit their production -- are becoming more frequent. "Wind curtailment will likely persist, if not worsen, until new transmission is available," the report says. The events are driven largely by two factors: a shortage of transmission capacity during hours when electric loads are normal, which makes it impossible to move power from the wind farms to power users, and high wind production during hours when power demand is low. The new study examines curtailment strategies in use around the country. For example, the New York Independent System Operator and PJM manage curtailment with a bid-based system through which wind producers might at times be paid to remain idle. In other areas, utility contracts with wind farms include the right to curtail production and can include payments for the lost value of wind power and perhaps of the federal production tax credit that wind farms could otherwise claim. Data on the extent of curtailment are difficult to obtain, the report says, in part because there is no consistent format in which the data is collected. Xcel Energy curtailed nearly 5 percent of Minnesota's wind generation from 2005 to 2007, the report says, while Southern California Edison estimates it curtails about 15 megawatts of energy about 7 percent of the time in the Tehachapi region, where a new transmission line is planned. In west Texas, where wind power production is high and demand is low, the system operator reported frequent use of curtailment. The study says the completion of new transmission lines, many of which are currently in planning stages, will help to minimize the need for such cutbacks. But the problem is unlikely to go away soon, as wind farms are built much faster than new transmission can be planned, permitted and constructed, and wind projects will continue to be developed in high-resource areas far from cities where power use is concentrated. Source: E & E Publishing, LLC
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