Planning & Operating Electricity Grids with Variable Renewable Generation

The development of wind- and solar-generating capacity is growing rapidly around the world, but integrating wind and solar generation into grid operations is challenging: since wind and solar generation only occur when wind and solar resources are available, their output is not controllable. Grid operators are accustomed to dealing with variability, but primarily on the load side. The challenge is that higher levels of wind and solar generation add both variability and uncertainty.
 

Several countries, notably Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Spain, are providing real-world experience in integrating high levels of variable generation, primarily wind power. In addition, several integration studies have modeled and simulated the addition of large amounts of wind, and to a lesser extent, solar generation to the grid. Such studies provide valuable information on the expected impacts of high levels of variable energy generation and potential strategies for successfully integrating variable energy generation into the system. These courses look at the technical operational impacts of integrating these resources into the systems and the potential technical and economic implications to system operations, notably short-term, reserve-related costs. Globally, variable renewable generation sources still represent mainly an energy and not a capacity resource.
 

While their contributions to capacity or power and associated costs are different from those of conventional power sources, variable renewable generation technologies can contribute to long-term system adequacy and security.