Wind power could meet 20 percent of U.S. energy demand by 2030, according to Energy Department calculations, even though currents currently provide a mere 1 percent of U.S. electricity. Making the leap would be "ambitious" but "feasible," says the report: it wouldn't require technological breakthroughs, but would necessitate the construction of 75,000 new and improved turbines and a major expansion of the electricity grid. If wind did hit that 20 percent marker, it could eliminate 25 percent of the greenhouse gases currently spewed by natural-gas and coal power, as well as reducing water consumption by 4 trillion gallons. The cost, says the report, would be about $6 per person per year. Even though the DOE calculations assume that renewable-energy tax credits will not be renewed (which is a whole nother story), the fact that boosting wind power is feasible doesn't mean it'll actually happen.
Comments View as Flat
Kristina & Jason Makansi Posted 6:36 am
13 May 2008
20 % wind
will only happen with a concurrent investment in storage. The engineers that operate the grid understand that wind blowing at midnight in North Dakota or West Texas (for example) doesn't help much at peak usage time the next afternoon in Chicago or Dallas.
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roncastle Posted 3:17 am
14 May 2008
Dim Bulbs at DOE
We don't have until 2030.
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GoodCheer Posted 4:29 am
14 May 2008
Storage
There will be electric cars in the showrooms in 2-4 years (see the next article). They can provide storage if they get adequate market penetration.
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tomgray Posted 6:53 am
14 May 2008
Energy storage
No, this is incorrect. The report does not envision new storage, but does acknowledge that 70 GW of gas-fired combustion turbines will be needed to accommodate wind's variability. These would be run sparingly, however.
Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.powerofwind.org
www.awea.org
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