What happens when the wind stops blowing?
October 1st 2009 Britain’s goal of significantly increasing its dependence on intermittent wind-power will not mean a substantial cost increase to bill-payers, according issue 162 EN3 of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Energy journal.
Author and UK renewable energy consultant David Milborrow reports that even if wind energy was to provide all of the government’s 2020 target of 40% low-carbon generation, the additional cost of ‘windless days’ would only add around £6 per MWh to the cost of electricity at most; less than five percent increase to typical electricity bills. Better demand-side management and wind forecasting, areas in which a lot of progress is being made, will reduce the uncertainty associated with windpower and bring this cost down further.
David Milborrow said:“The problems that may arise when wind energy is absorbed into electricity networks are frequently debated.The overwhelming consensus – from the studies cited in this paper, the UK system operator and a review of relevant literature worldwide – is that there are no major technical barriers to the implementation of dispersed variable generating sources such as wind.“
Drawing on data from western Denmark, where wind farms generate 26 percent of national electricity consumption, the report shows that fluctuations encountered by system operators are measurable and manageable. It cites recent data from British system operator National Grid to estimate additional balancing costs.
Milborrow continued:“In a nutshell, the answer to the question ‘what happens when the wind stops blowing?’ is ‘not a lot’.” More articles from WEE News Desk: | 
