The benefits of bringing additional renewables online in North America outweigh the risks, according to studies by GE Energy Consulting.
GE has consolidated the findings from three renewable energy studies in North America in reaching the conclusion.
The studies – Hawaii Wind and Solar Studies, Western Wind and Solar Integration Studies and the PJM renewable integration study – will help utilities in North America understand the challenges and solutions for integrating large-scale renewables to the grid, GE said.
The Hawaii study found that to improve grid reliability and stability some operating changes needed to be made.
These changes included having reserves to handle wind and solar variability, reducing minimum operating levels at thermal plants and removing “must-run constraints” and allowing cycling of baseload units.
The Western study found the region’s interconnection could meet more than 30% of the region’s power needs by integrating wind and solar.
The PJM study found fuel cost savings of new renewables could offset the cost of new transmission investments to bring renewables online.
Image: Smoky Hills 2 wind farm in US (Enel)
