[5]By Julia Pettit
Stoel Rives LLP, Attorneys at Law [6]
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”) recently announced the release of the “Western Wind and Solar Integration Study” [7] (the “WWSIS”), which investigated the operational impact of up to 35% energy penetration of wind, photovoltaic, and concentrating solar power on the power system operated by the WestConnect group of utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming. The WestConnect group includes the following: Arizona Public Service, El Paso Electric Co., NV Energy, Public Service of New Mexico, Salt River Project, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative, Tucson Electric Power, Western Area Power Administration, and Xcel Energy.
The WWSIS was prepared by GE Energy and conducted over two and a half years by a team or researchers in wind power, solar power, and utility operations. The WWSIS was designed to answer questions that utilities, Public Utility Commissions, developers, and regional planning organizations had about renewable energy use in the West, such as:
- What is the operating impact of up to 35% renewable energy penetration and how can this be accommodated?
- How does geographic diversity help to mitigate variability?
- How do local resources compare to remote, higher quality resources delivered by long distance transmission?
- Can balancing area cooperation mitigate variability?
- How should reserve requirements be modified to account for the variability in wind and solar?
- What is the benefit of integrating wind and solar forecasting into grid operations?
- How can hydro generation help with integration of renewables?
Based on the technical analysis performed in the WWSIS, it was determined that it is operationally feasible for WestConnect to accommodate 30% wind and 5% solar energy penetration, assuming that certain changes to current practice are made over time. A summary of some of the changes items identified in the WWSIS were outlined in the Executive Summary [8] and include the following:
- Substantially increase balancing area cooperation or consolidation, real or virtual;
- Increase the use of sub-hourly scheduling for generation and interchanges;
- Increase utilization of transmission;
- Enable coordinated commitment and economic dispatch of generation over wider regions;
- Incorporate state-of-the-art wind and solar forecasts in unit commitment and grid operations;
- Increase the flexibility of dispatchable generation where appropriate (e.g., reduce minimum generation levels, increase ramp rates, reduce start/stop costs or minimum down time);
- Commit additional operating reserves as appropriate;
- Build transmission as appropriate to accommodate renewable energy expansion;
- Target new or existing demand response programs (load participation) to accommodate increased variability and uncertainty;
- Require wind plants to provide down reserves.
Finally, the WWIS also identified a number of areas where further study is warranted:
- Characterization of the capabilities of the non-renewable generation portfolio in greater detail (e.g., minimum turndown, ramp rates, cost of additional wear and tear);
- Changes in non-renewable generation portfolio (e.g., impact of retirements, characteristics, and value of possible fleet additions or upgrades);
- Reserve requirements and strategies (e.g., off-line reserves, reserves from non-generation resources);
- Load participation or demand response (e.g., functionality, market structures, PHEV);
- Fuel sensitivies (e.g., price, carbon taxes, gas contracts and storage, hydro constraints and strategies);
- Forecasting (e.g., calibration of forecasting using field experience, strategies for use of short-term forecasting);
- Rolling unit commitment (e.g., scheduling units more frequently than once on a day-ahead basis);
- Transmission planning and reliability analyses (e.g., transient stability, voltage stability, protection and control, intra-area constraints and challenges);
- Hydro flexibility (e.g., calibration of hydro models with plant performance).