Integration of Wind Energy into BPA Power Grid - ICIE's Saturday Summary 3/28/09

This is a weekly roundup of some of ICIE’s activities in and around the Idaho Legislature. Staffing limits mean we can’t cover every meeting. If there’s an item of interest to you at an upcoming meeting of one of the environment or agriculture committees, let us know and we’ll try to cover it. Agendas are available at www.state.id.us. Click on “Legislative” and click on “Calendars and agendas.”

Note from ICIE: Committee meetings are slowing down but I wanted to forward this report by John Williams to the Senate Resources & Environment Committee earlier this month. We had a brief discussion of it in an earlier Saturday Summary; however, alternate energy is such a hot topic, I thought you would like to see John’s entire report.

“Integration of Wind Energy Into BPA Power Grid”
John Williams, Idaho Constituent Account Executive, BPA

I. BPA strongly supports wind power: since the 2007 NW Wind Integration plan, BPA has been working with regional stakeholders on various solutions to integrate large amounts of wind power in a reliable and cost effective manner.

Within BPA’s balancing authority (BA)/Transmission control area, wind power has increase from 25 mw 10 years ago to more than 1,500 mw today. This may double by the end of 2009.

Several factors are driving the need to develop renewables in the NW: 1) increase demand for power, 2) state renewable portfolio standards, and 3) climate change concerns. There are challenges in meeting RPS and climate concerns.

II. Renewable Portfolio Standards: California, Oregon, and Washington have mandated a portion of their utilities resources to meet load must come from carbon free generation. Majority of the wind development is in BPA’s BA (Lower Columbia region). This is a supply demand for renewable resources.

III. Transmission/Generation: BPA has integrated over 1,500 mw of wind power. During the last few years, BPA have built five new substations and tap lines. BPA will continue to invest in transmission to integrate renewable resources. Also federal hydro have supplied reserves to back-up and support wind generation while maintaining system reliability.

However, wind development is moving so quickly that it’s out pacing BPA’s ability to integrate this resource with the Federal hydro-system (1,500 mw wind is about 15% of our 10,500 mw peak load). We are experiencing large ramping events – several hundred megawatts of unscheduled changes in wind output occurring within an hour!

Wind power requires generation inputs (reserves) to maintain balance between scheduled output and actual generation. BPA must increase or decrease it’s generation in like amounts immediately to maintain the constant balance of generation and load to keep the transmission system stable.

The hydro system’s limits are being reached. Excessive wind generation imbalance is beginning to impose real consequences on power system operation that could affect both system reliability and protection of Columbia and Snake River salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

IV. Wind Integration challenge: reliability and cost
BPA is working aggressively with the wind and utility communities to develop new wind forecasting tools and market mechanisms to better manage wind and other variable resources in the transmission grid.

Until these tools are sufficiently mature, BPA will have to rely on the federal hydropower system. For the last several weeks, BPA has worked intensively on a way to continue to add wind farms to its existing system without jeopardizing system reliability or fulfillment of its hydro operation requirements under the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. We are sharing the resulting solutions with the wind and utility communities and interested parties.

Solutions: 1) Protocols will limit wind operation to stay within balancing reserves - shifts the responsibility for balancing for under-generation of wind to the transmission contract holder and its balancing authority (utility’s transmission control area) and to the wind power customers, 2) Interconnection Agreements that define the responsibilities of BPA and each generator that connects to BPA’s transmission system, 3) Balancing reserves (to back-up wind) will be forecast in rates. However, BPA cannot reduce hydro generation to compensate for wind over-generation if doing so would increase nitrogen saturation in the river above legal limits (Clean Water Act and ESA listed fish impact).

V. Summary

BPA will need additional power reserves, thus last November we sent out a Request for Information on potential sources (generation inputs and/or load interruption) to be used for load following and regulation capabilities. We received 18 responses that will be used to develop one or more pilot projects.

As mentioned earlier, BPA is working aggressively to help the industry develop new forecasting tools and market mechanisms to enable new supplies of integration services (system regulation, resource following, and generation imbalance – all in real time except the third point that is after the fact correction used in billing)

BPA is working with its customers, wind developers, regulators, and interested parties to find practical, equitable and viable ways to meet the technical requirements of integrating wind power in the NW.

Report by John Williams, Idaho Constituent Account Executive, BPA