Northwest power surplus may halt wind energy
By Tim Fought
The Bonneville Power Administration has more than enough electricity during a cold, wet spring that has created a big surge in river flows where hydroelectric dams are located. The agency responded by announcing its intentions to curtail wind power until the grid has more capacity, in a move likely to cost the industry millions of dollars.
The decision reflects an overlooked issue amid the push to add wind farms around the country: The capacity of power grids has not kept pace.
How soon and low long wind farms might be shut down depends on how quickly the region warms up and the water shoots downriver to the Pacific Ocean, said Steven Wright, administrator of the BPA. The farms that would be shut down are mostly in Washington and Oregon.
The main culprit for the wind slowdown is spring weather that followed a winter with heavy snow in the mountains feeding the Columbia River basin. The spring surge is expected to be the largest of this century.
When water levels are this high, the agency said, it has no choice but to use the water to generate electricity in hydroelectric dams. Laws protecting endangered species prevent it from sending all the excess water through spillways and around the dams. That beats up salmon and steelhead. It also creates so much nitrogen gas bubbling in the water that the fish get the equivalent of the bends.
Grid operators say they have run out of capability to sell the surplus electricity, store the water or shut down gas, oil, and nuclear plants — leaving wind farms the unfortunate victim.
The financing of many wind farms relies on tax credits that are of benefit only if electricity is produced. And the decision could set the stage for even more significant fights in the years to come if the Northwest wind industry doubles its capacity, as projected, over the next decade.
Link to complete article:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/NW-has-too-much-dam-power-plans-wind-power-halt-1379008.php
"The capacity of power grids has not kept pace."
ReplyDeleteThis is something Conley Watson reported to the air breathing community many, many months ago.
It makes one wonder why Simpson is interested in pursuing the Solomon Renewable Energy Company's planned biomass incinerator in the Shelton Harbor, when there is nowhere to sell the energy, and no way to transport it until the grid is upgraded.
Is this all just to take advantage of tax credits, carbon credits, and stimulus dollars earmarked for "green energy" projects?
I look forward to the day when the record reflects the reality that biomass incineration, or "caveman technology" as my friend Theresa likes to call it, IS NOT GREEN.
When that decision is finally made, it will free the air-breathers up to focus on equally important things like their families, jobs and homes, instead of having to defend against air pollution 24/7/365, as they have been doing for more than a year now.