WIND DOES CUT CO2

Will wind energy cut CO2?
Jason Deign, 13 June 2011 (Wind Energy Update)

"…Dr Herbert Inhaber’s study on the relationship between wind power and carbon emissions… draws on a wide range of published sources to show that, contrary to expectations, adding large amounts of renewable energy to the grid does not significantly reduce CO2 levels… because an increasing quantity of fossil fuel has to be wasted in ramping up or powering down (or ‘cycling’) conventional power plants in order to counter the intermittency of the renewable energy supply…

"…Inhaber’s research was published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, a peer-reviewed journal edited by Lawrence Kazmerski, programme integrator at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory…Michael Goggin, manager of transmission policy at the American Wind Energy Association, published a comprehensive rebuttal of the ‘wind does not reduce emissions’ argument…"

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"Goggin cites three ways in which wind power affects emissions…First, it replaces power production from fossil-fuel power plants; second, yes, it reduces the efficiency of fossil-fuel plants, although this is on a per-unit-of-output basis; and third, it forces utilities to switch from emissions-heavy coal plants to cleaner gas and combined cycle power…The first and third impacts greatly outweigh any loss of fossil fuel-plant efficiency, Goggin says. His discussion includes data from four American grid operators and the US Department of Energy…"

Brett Prior, senior analyst at Greentech Media’s GTM Research:] “[The Inhaber paper looks] fundamentally flawed to me…The math is just plain wrong and his use of data is incorrect.”

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"…[M]any of Inhaber’s star exhibits are reports dating back to the early and mid 2000s. It is logical to assume the last half-decade will have seen some advances in grid interconnections and the way utilities respond to variable outputs from renewable power plants."

[Nick Medic, head of communications, RenewableUK:] “There is an assumption that back up will come mostly from gas, but what we are seeing now is that there is a drive towards increased interconnection…[A] diversified portfolio of renewables feeding into the grid…[offsets] the need for conventional back up, as well as the impact of other forms of backup…When you look at how variability is managed currently you see this is not always through switching gas turbines on and off.”