June 19, 2007
U.S.
U.S.
Growth in renewable energy threatens to cripple the northwest’s power grid.
Industry analysts say growth in wind power is stressing the system.
The constant on and off of wind power stresses the system.
Think of it the same as city driving versus highway driving, the accelerations in city driving are harder on your car.
Experts say that’s stressing the grid so much they’re almost to the point where they’ll have to fix the grid before adding much more wind power.
“The notion of just building more wind turbines to produce more electricity is admirable, but there are some very serious constraints that fall into the area of transmission, how do you get it to the customer?” said Brad Peck with Energy Northwest.
It’s unknown whether BPA will upgrade the grid soon and whether that would impact prices.
The BPA grid distributes power throughout the northwest.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/06/19/wind-power-not-all-it-cracks-up-to-be/