Planning for Utility-Scale Renewable Energy

Keywords: Renewables, Wind Energy, Combined Cycle, New England, ISO, Cape Wind.

The New England region of the US is a prime candidate for large-scale wind generation of electricity. Yet both the region's electric grid operator (New England Independent System Operator, or NE-ISO) and state governments are wrestling with the impact of these sources on the electric generation mix. NE-ISO recently conducted a detailed study to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of the future deployment of utility-scale, renewable wind generation. The study clearly showed that the economics of wind and combined cycle generating plants interact, with combined cycle plants faring worse as the fraction of wind power becomes substantial.

New England's High Potential for Renewables
Despite the decade-long litigation debacle over the huge Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, the New England region remains a most viable area for future wind generation. The region has many high quality sites where wind turbines can be expected to produce at 28-32 percent capacity factor onshore and at higher capacity factor offshore. These sites have higher potential capacity factors than many onshore wind sites that have already been developed in Europe, where onshore sites usually realize production capacity factors in the range of 15-20 percent. Another advantage is that New England's winds usually blow strongest in the afternoon, during peak electric demand.

Potential wind farm sites in New England, especially those offshore, are relatively close to major load centers (see figure on the previous page). This means that the investment in new power transmission assets to bring wind energy to market is lower than for many other US regions. The region also has a mature electric market that now performs transactions in the range of $7-8 billion per year. Finally, many New England states have adopted renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which create demand for wind power. The state governors in New England approached NE-ISO to request an integrated, long-range regional study of the infrastructure investments that would be needed to ramp up renewable power, and also to study the resulting economic and environmental impacts.

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