Electric industry restructuring, ancillary services, and the potential impact on wind

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:570004

Kirby, B; Hirst, E ^[1]; Parsons, B; Porter, K ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); and others

The new competitive electric power environment raises increased challenges for wind power. The DOE and EPRI wind programs have dealt extensively with the traditional vertically integrated utility planning and operating environment in which the host utility owns the generation (or purchases the power) and provides dispatch and transmission services. Under this traditional environment, 1794 MW of wind power, principally in California, have been successfully integrated into the U.S. electric power system. Another 4200 MW are installed elsewhere in the world. As issues have arisen, such as intermittency and voltage regulation, they have been successfully addressed with accepted power system procedures and practices. For an intermittent, non-dispatchable resource such as wind, new regulatory rules affecting power transmission services, raise questions about which ancillary services wind plants will be able to sell, which they will be required to purchase, and what the economic impacts will be on individual wind projects. This paper begins to look at issues of concern to wind in a restructured electric industry. The paper first briefly looks at the range of unbundled services and comments on their unique significance to wind. To illustrate the concerns that arise with restructuring, the paper then takes a more detailed look at a single service: regulation. Finally, the paper takes a brief look at technologies and strategies that could improve the competitive position of wind.

• Research Organization: American Wind Energy Association, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 570004
• Report Number(s): CONF-970608--PROC.; ON: DE98001975
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
BUSINESS
COMPETITION
DEREGULATION
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY
WIND POWER INDUSTRY