Western Wind and Solar Integration Study: Hydropower Analysis

Technical Report · Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1037937· OSTI ID:1037937

Acker, T. ^[1]; Pete, C. ^[1]

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1. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) study of 20% Wind Energy by 2030 was conducted to consider the benefits, challenges, and costs associated with sourcing 20% of U.S. energy consumption from wind power by 2030. This study found that with proactive measures, no insurmountable barriers were identified to meet the 20% goal. Following this study, DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL) conducted two more studies: the Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study (EWITS) covering the eastern portion of the U.S., and the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study (WWSIS) covering the western portion of the United States. The WWSIS was conducted by NREL and research partner General Electric (GE) in order to provide insight into the costs, technical or physical barriers,and operational impacts caused by the variability and uncertainty of wind, photovoltaic, and concentrated solar power when employed to serve up to 35% of the load energy in the WestConnect region (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming). WestConnect is composed of several utility companies working collaboratively to assess stakeholder and market needs to and develop cost-effectiveimprovements to the western wholesale electricity market. Participants include the Arizona Public Service, El Paso Electric Company, NV Energy, Public Service of New Mexico, Salt River Project, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative, Tucson Electric Power, Xcel Energy and the Western Area Power Administration.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind and Water Technologies Office (EE-4W)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1037937
• Report Number(s): NREL/SR--5500-53098; XXL-7-77283-01
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
14 SOLAR ENERGY
17 WIND ENERGY
ARIZONA
COLORADO
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRICITY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
MARKET
NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
NEVADA
NEW MEXICO
SOLAR ENERGY
WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION
WIND POWER
WWSIS
WYOMING
Western Wind and Solar Integration Study
hydropower
wind
wind energy