WASHINGTON, DC, US.
The US could source 20% of its total electricity need from wind by 2030
if the cost of wind technologies were reduced, if new transmission
infrastructure were installed and if domestic manufacturing capability were
enhanced.
The Department of Energy (DOE) identifies opportunities for 7,600 cumulative
megaton of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 Mt in 2030 and every year
after if wind energy achieves a 20% share of the country’s electricity mix.
The report, ‘20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030,’ was prepared by DOE and a
broad group of stakeholders from industry, government and three of DOE’s
national laboratories - the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Colorado, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and Sandia
National Laboratory in New Mexico.
“DOE’s wind report is a thorough look at America’s wind resource, its
industrial capabilities and future energy prices, and confirms the viability
and commercial maturity of wind as a major contributor to America’s energy
needs, now and in the future,” says Andy Karsner, DOE’s assistant secretary
of renewable energy. “To dramatically reduce GHG emissions and enhance our
energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be
necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling
renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and
expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base.”
The in-depth analysis of the potential for wind outlines a potential
scenario to boost wind generation from its current production of 16.8 GW to
304 GW by 2030. It concludes that sourcing 20% from wind will require
enhanced transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting
regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems, and increased
US wind manufacturing capacity.
Annual installations need to increase more than three-fold and the 20% goal
will require the number of annual turbine installations to increase from
2,000 in 2006 to 7,000 in 2017. The costs of integrating intermittent wind
power into the grid are modest and 20% from wind could be reliably
integrated into the grid for less than 0.5˘ per kWh, it notes.
Although demand for copper, fibreglass and other raw materials will
increase, no material constraints currently exist and the 20% goal is not
limited by the availability of raw materials. Transmission challenges need
to be addressed and issues related to siting and cost allocation of new
transmission lines to access the best wind resources in the US will need to
be resolved.
“The report correctly highlights that greater penetration of renewable
sources of energy into our electric grid will have to be paired with not
only advanced integration technologies but also new transmission,” adds
Kevin Kolevar of DOE. “In many cases, the most robust sources of renewable
resources are located in remote areas, and if we want to be able to deliver
these new clean and abundant sources of energy to population centres, we
will need additional transmission.”
Last year, US cumulative wind capacity reached 16,818 MW with 5,000 MW of
turbines installed in 2007. Wind contributed to 30% of new US generation
capacity, making it the second largest source of new power generation,
surpassed only by natural gas.
The US wind energy industry invested $9 billion in new generating capacity
last year and has experienced a 30% annual growth rate in the last five
years.
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