Grid Operator Says ‘Gimme More Ocean Wind!’

Offshore Wind Push; Researchers show US grid can handle more offshore wind power, cutting pollution and power costs

Tracey Bryant, February 21, 2017 (University of Delaware UDaily)

“Injecting large amounts of offshore wind power into the U.S. electrical grid is manageable, will cut electricity costs, and will reduce pollution compared to current fossil fuel sources, according to…a first-of-its-kind simulation with PJM Interconnection — a grid operator supplying electricity to more than 60 million people in 14 states…[In The challenge of integrating offshore wind power in the U.S. electric grid. Part II: Simulation of electricity market operations, they developed] a computer model that simulates how the electric grid would respond to injections of wind power from offshore wind farms along the East Coast at five build-out levels, between 7 and 70 gigawatts of installed capacity…[Grid operators face the question of] how to integrate increasing amounts of naturally fluctuating offshore wind into a network that has to deliver reliable power to customers, 24-7…[The research] showed conservatively that, with some upgrades to transmission lines but without any need for added storage, the PJM grid can handle over 35 gigawatts of offshore wind…[and] the PJM grid could in the future handle twice that amount, up to 70 gigawatts, as wind forecasting improves…” click here for more

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