EERE Report on the State of the Wind Industry in the US

The US Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy department (EERE) has released a 2011 Wind Technologies Market Report.

One quick takeaway from the report was that 6 states "are estimated to exceed 10% wind energy penetration."  They are South Dakota, Iowa (both over 20%), Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado and Oregon.
Wind is not Reducing Emissions is an article I posted in March on my original content blog.  I looked at different metrics to determine top wind states, but only Colorado, from this EERE list, was not in my post examining US Energy Information Administration data to show that between 2005 and 2010, as these states grew their wind portfolios:

• only Minnesota decreased CO2 significantly quicker than the US average (North Dakota was at the average, while Oregon and Iowa's CO2 emissions went up).
• only North Dakota and Iowa decreased SO2 more than the US average
• only Minnesota reduced NOx more than the US average

Overall the group performed well below the US average in addressing emissions.

The EERE demonstrates, extensively, the increase in wind capacity, and investigates the costs of that, but it doesn't attempt to attach any significance to the expansion of wind capacity in terms of emissions.

Encouragingly, it does note "...the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase II and the PJM wind integration study, both due to be completed within the next year, will include an assessment of cycling costs."

While the question of "why?" is not answered, or asked, the EERE report estimates the costs of the wind expansion.

From my Ontario perspective, it's notable the growth in US capacity has been in wind and gas over the past 7 years, just as it has been in Ontario.

The added wind output is acquired at about half the price of Ontario's FIT program forces Ontarian's to pay.

The EERE report does not show Ontario's gas procurement over that time also appears to be 50-100% more costly that the build-out in the US.



Notes [emphasis added]:

Regional Variations in Capacity Factor Reflect the Strength of the Wind Resource. Based on a sub-sample of wind power projects built from 2004 through 2010, capacity-weighted average capacity factors were the highest in the Heartland (37%) and Mountain (36%) regions in 2011, and lowest in the East (25%) and in New England (28%). Not surprisingly, these regional rankings are roughly consistent with the relative quality of the wind resource in each region.

the cumulative sample of projects built from 1998 through 2011 had grown to 271 projects totaling 20,189 MW, with an average price of $54/MWh (with 50% of individual project prices falling between $36/MWh and $63/MWh).

Regional Variations in Capacity Factor Reflect the Strength of the Wind Resource. Based on a sub-sample of wind power projects built from 2004 through 2010, capacity-weighted average capacity factors were the highest in the Heartland (37%) and Mountain (36%) regions in 2011, and lowest in the East (25%) and in New England (28%). Not surprisingly, these regional rankings are roughly consistent with the relative quality of the wind resource in each region.

the cumulative sample of projects built from 1998 through 2011 had grown to 271 projects totaling 20,189 MW, with an average price of $54/MWh (with 50% of individual project prices falling between $36/MWh and $63/MWh).

worldwide survey of grid operators that together currently manage over 141 GW of wind (Jones 2011).

Some utilities are now directly charging wind power projects for balancing services.81 BPA, for example, includes a wind energy balancing charge in its transmission tariff equivalent to about $5.40/MWh.

FERC has also approved a higher generator regulation and frequency response services charge for wind energy in the Westar Energy balancing area, equivalent to about $0.7/MWh

 Notable reference: 

strategies and  decision support systems for integrating variable energy resources in control cnetres for reliable grid operations (Jones 2011) .