1. Renewable energy builds a more reliable and resilient electricity mix
Michael Goggin, Senior Research Director
American Wind Energy Association, May 2017

2. Renewable energy builds a more reliable and resilient electricity mix
Grid operators are already reliably integrating large amounts of wind energy, and their studies show they can go much higher.
Integrating renewables on the power grid costs less than integrating baseload sources.
Power electronics enable renewables to provide reliability services as well as or better than conventional power plants.
Renewables diversify the energy mix, improving economics and resiliency.
Renewables are not the primary factor undermining baseload sources.
Cheap gas is the primary factor undermining those sources.

3. Grid operators are reliably integrating wind, and their studies show they can go much higher
Study
RE % achievable at minimum
PJM
30%
ISO-NE
24%
Minnesota-MISO
25%
Western U.S.
Eastern U.S.
National
50%
Sources: DOE 2016 data, NREL

4. Integrating renewables costs less than integrating baseload
MISO: Impact of 10,000+ MW of wind on frequency regulation reserve needs is “little to none”
DOE: Fast-acting “contingency” reserve need for large fossil and nuclear power plant failures many times larger than increase in reserve needs due to renewables Source: DOE, grid operator studies
ERCOT data: Contingency reserves = 76 cents per electric bill
Wind reserve increase = 4 cents per electric bill
UT Austin: No increase in frequency regulation reserve need as wind has grown
Grid
Baseload Fast Contingency Reserves (MW)
Renewable Fast Reserves (MW)
CAISO
850
<230
ERCOT
2,800 53
MISO
1,000
“little to none”
PJM
1,375 18
ISO-NE
1,750 20
NYISO
1,310 36
SPP
545
216
Source: UT Austin

5. Power electronics enable renewables to provide reliability services as well as or better than conventional power plants
Markets should determine which resources provide services
Reliability service
Renewables
Conventional
Ride through grid disturbance
Excellent
Some
Voltage and reactive power control
Good, can provide when not producing power
Good, must be producing power
Frequency control
Can provide
Many do not
Primary frequency response
NERC
“Modern wind turbine generators can meet equivalent technical performance requirements provided by conventional generation technologies with proper control strategies, system design, and implementation.”
“Utility-scale wind energy…offers ride-through capabilities and other essential reliability services.”
“Variable resources…may provide voltage regulation and reactive power control capabilities comparable to that of conventional generation.” GE

6. Renewables diversify the energy mix, improving economics and resiliency
Power system needs energy, capacity, flexibility. No resource economically provides all three, and all resources are subject to common mode failures, so grid operators have always used “division of labor” for economics and resilience.
“Baseload” is not a reliability service, just energy and capacity. Most baseload plants provide little flexibility, so a system with a lot of baseload plants would not be economic or reliable.
PJM: Scenarios with very high levels of wind score well for reliability and resilience. For example, renewables performed well during polar vortex and other extreme weather events; are resilient to many types of outages because they require no fuel shipments or cooling water.
Numerous blackouts and other reliability breakdowns have occurred because conventional generators failed in cold or hot weather, or because fuel shipments or cooling water weren’t available.

7. Renewables not primary factor undermining baseload

8. Cheap gas is primary factor undermining baseload