North-Western United States’ wind power reaches milestone on Bonneville Power Administration system

18 August 2009

In early August, for the first time, US energy utility Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) transmission grid reached a milestone, carrying more than 2,000MW of wind power for more than an hour. This doubles the peak of 1,000MW recorded in January 2008, according to a statement.

BPA a not-for-profit federal electric utility that operates a high-voltage transmission grid comprising more than 15,000 miles of lines and associated substations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, said of the 22 wind farms that contributed to the record, six came online this year.

Most of the wind power in the Northwest, although largely owned by private developers, is connected to BPA’s transmission grid, primarily east of the Columbia River Gorge. BPA has built five substations and six taplines to tie wind farms into its transmission grid with more in progress. BPA has also just begun constructing the first of 14 new meteorological stations that will facilitate wind forecasting.

‘Wind power is growing rapidly in the Northwest,’ said Brian Silverstein, BPA acting senior vice president for transmission services. ‘It’s the largest source of new power in our system. Within just a few years, we’ve seen more wind projects come on line, and BPA has been working quickly to connect the new projects into the regional power grid.’

‘The Northwest has clearly distinguished itself as a leader in the effort to add wind to the mix of resources that helps power the nation,’ Silverstein said.

‘States are calling for adding more clean, renewable sources of energy to the region’s power supply and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is clear evidence that power providers are responding and taking action to address the region’s changing needs.’

‘Wind power that enters BPA’s transmission system serves consumers throughout the Northwest and in California,’ Silverstein said.

‘It’s great to see wind power mature, along with BPA’s ability to integrate it into the system,’ added Rachel Shimshak, executive director of Renewable Northwest Project.

‘Renewable energy growth has resulted in thousands of new jobs, millions of dollars of investment in local communities, and provided a boost to creating a clean energy economy,’ she concluded.

BPA said that as wind development increases, new transmission will be needed to carry the energy to population centres, which are some distance from the wind farms. This summer, BPA broke ground on a major new project, the John Day-McNary 500kv transmission line in eastern Oregon and Washington. When energised in late 2012, the transmission line will deliver more than 575MWs of additional wind energy across BPA’s transmission system. Nearly two-thirds of the wind power in the region goes over BPA’s system.

BPA is instituting new operational procedures and developing new technologies to deal with the variability of wind on the system. ‘Wind presents a unique set of challenges, but we are working aggressively to solve them,’ BPA Administrator Steve Wright said. ‘It’s exciting to be figuring out in real time how to make this all work, and we are confident we’re making real progress.’

‘Two years ago, we thought we might see 6,000MW of wind power in the Northwest by 2023. We now expect to see more than 6,000MW of wind power in the BPA grid alone in the next five years,’ Wright said. ‘We’re working closely with utilities and the wind community to develop the new transmission management tools we’ll need to do it well.’

In addition to adding substations and transmission lines, BPA is working to overcome challenges to integrating large amounts of a variable resource, such as wind, into its grid. This is critical to the advancement of wind because the amount of generation entering the grid must equal the amount consumed.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: cleantech, green energy, renewable energy, wind energy, windpower

This story was published on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:09 am and is filed under North America, companies, wind. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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