Wind Energy Can Keep American Lights On: AWEA

[ScienceRocks]

Wind Energy Can Keep American Lights On: AWEA
February 13th, 2015 by Joshua S Hill
Wind Energy Can Keep American Lights On AWEA

The American Wind Energy Association released a new report on Thursday which concludes that adding wind power to the US electricity grid can help the country cut carbon pollution while still keeping the lights on.

“Americans want energy security, clean air, and a more reliable energy system,” said American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) CEO Tom Kiernan. “Diversifying our energy mix with wind helps us achieve all of these goals at once.”

The report, “Wind energy helps build a more reliable and balanced electricity portfolio,” answers 15 of the most frequently asked questions, basing answers upon lessons learned from grid operators’ experiences successfully and reliably integrating wind energy into the existing grid. The study also relies upon dozens of previous studies by grid operators in an attempt to examine how higher levels of wind can be integrated into the US energy mix.

“Based on grid operators’ experience with reliably and cost-effectively integrating very large amounts of wind energy, wind can play can play a key role in meeting EPA’s Clean Power Plan,” said AWEA Senior Director of Research Michael Goggin.

Between wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear. We won't need fossil fuels by the later part of this century! For those that think it can't. How exactly do you explain Iowa and South Dakota? Both in the mid 20%.

 

[ScienceRocks]

• Iowa and South Dakota reliably produce more than 25 percent of their electricity from wind power; nine states produce more than 12 percent and more than 4 percent in the US overall.
• Technological advances have enabled US wind farms to set generation records asa percent of demand over the past two years, all without reliability problems:
  • At times more than 60 percent on Xcel Energy’s Colorado power system;
  • Nearly 40 percent of generation in ERCOT, the main Texas power system; and
  • 33 percent in the Southwest Power Pool (area that covers all or parts of several states in the Southwest
  • The largest grid operator in the US, PJM, recently reported it could reach 30 percent of wind power while maintaining electricity reliability.
  • Ireland, Spain, and Portugal obtaining around 20 percent of their electricity from wind on an annual basis, Denmark at nearly 35 percent, and Germany at 25 percent from wind and solar.
  • More than a dozen wind integration studies by US grid operators and others find wind energy can reliably supply at least 20-30 percent of US electricity demands; some studies showing 40 percent.
  • Wind power saved consumers $1 billion over just two days across the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic states during the 2014 “Polar Vortex” event.
  • The current US wind fleet will reduce CO2 emissions by 150 million short tons per year, the equivalent of reducing power sector emissions by more than 5 percent, or 28 million cars worth of carbon emissions.
  • There’s enough wind power installed to provide electricity for the equivalent of 18 million American homes.
• • 
    And I am not saying America needs to power all of our needs 100% with it, but why not 25%? This would mean that most most of the plain states and midwest could have 70-80% of their energy needs from wind and solar.

 

[elektra]

Wind has failed everywhere, extreme expense, 1000 tons of natural resources for each individual tower/turbine is a huge waste of Oil.

Solar destroys miles and miles of the environment, which is literally a heat sink. Also uses too much water.

Geothermal is the most expensive, natural resource consuming of the three, but its hard to say. Geothermal is drilled for just like Oil. At the Salton Sea they drill 24/7 all year round, finding new sources to replace the old, further Geothermal fracks, except its extremely deadly toxic waste they must pump back into the ground.

Matthew pleads for $36 trillion to be spent on Wind, Solar, and Geothermal. Why not 25%, because that 25% will never be there when we need it, an emergency.

Further, we will always have to make up for a deficit, when the clouds come, when the night comes, when the wind does not blow.

Solar and Wind have failed in Spain, Germany, Greece, Australia, and now Brazil. Of the 4 Brazil is really suffering, no electricity, blackouts, real death and danger stuff, its crazy unbelievable.

 

[Old Rocks]

Poor old Elektra, yappy yap yap, and not a single credible source to link to.

 

[Judicial review]

Mathew, buddy, can we please quit talking about our doomed planet an talk about mars instead!!!

 

[Judicial review]

Thank you!

 

[elektra]

Wind energy needs studies, scientists, and a billion dollar marketing campaign to tell us, "you can turn on the lights, if the wind blows".

Now if we could only make toast at the same time, maybe all the government funded universities could concentrate their billion dollar laboratories on making a billion dollar solar toaster.

 

[Vigilante]

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BIRDS!!!!! Apparently the environuts aren't as big a donor to the DNC as the Windnuts!

Where are the LIBERAL LEFT about this mass murder????????

 

[elektra]

Wind has failed in Vermont, worst storm of the year, the lights are off. Where is the wind power? Oh, now the wind is blowing too hard and the blizzard covered all the solar with snow.