Backup required for wind power in Texas

NY Times:

The major problem with wind as a power source is that it doesn’t blow all the time. To remedy that, Texas is spending $30 million a year to bolster its back-up power, in a change to the electricity grid that began on Nov. 1.

Depending on the weather conditions and time of day, wind can provide a significant proportion of Texas power – as much as 16 percent at one point in the past week, according to Dan Jones, an independent market monitor for the Texas grid. Wind farms are sprouting so quickly in the western part of the state that Texas’s grid managers decided that they needed extra back-up power to cover shortfalls when the wind stops blowing.

Adding to the sense of urgency, Texas nearly experienced wind-related blackouts in February.

Back-up power sources are always in place to handle minute-to-minute fluctuations in power supply and demand. Some power plants — usually gas plants — stand ready to deliver power at a moment’s notice as needs arise. These plants are responding not just to variations in wind, but to any unexpected uptick or downtick in demand or supply — say, when thousands of people suddenly turn on their air-conditioning at 2 p.m.

Beyond mitigating these minute-to-minute fluctuations, power systems generally maintain a number of back-up plants that are a bit slower to kick in — it takes about 30 minutes or so — but which really form the primary line of defense against blackouts.

In Texas, these back-up plants — typically natural gas plants — are often needed three to five days a month, according to Mr. Jones. It’s at this level of defense where Texas grid managers recently decided that they needed added capacity to account for wind’s variability and its significant place in the state’s power portfolio.

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Wind is a variable source sometimes when the wind is strong there is not enough transmission capacity to send the power to the users and when the wind lies they need to kick in the natural gas generators which are the easiest to bring up quickly. Texas now has 30 percent of the nation’s installed capacity of wind turbines. I suspect that will grow, although I saw today where some of the big players are backing off.

I know the environmentalist oppose some wind projects, but I think they are pretty cool. I have seen them when visiting west Texas and they add to the scenery the way a sail boat does on Galveston Bay. Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s opposition to the Cape Project should disqualify him from energy and environmental positions with the Obama administration. No NIMBY's need apply.