Wind Power Grown Closer to Home

Wind power is emerging as one of the leading sources of renewable, emissions-free energy. With growing concern around climate change and more regulations being put on greenhouse gases, countries are looking for alternatives to fossil fuel, and coal based sources of energy. Therefore wind power will play an important role in meeting the energy demands of the future. One of the challenges associated with wind power is that often times, the best suited locations for wind farms are far from the power plants and major cities that require the electricity.

Researchers at Duke University conducted a study to compare the energy generation in relation to cost, between local and distant wind farms. They used multiple sites in Illinois, transmitting electricity to a power station just outside of Chicago, to determine which method would be more cost effective in reaching the state’s renewable portfolio standards (Hoppock and Patrino-Echeveri 2010). Local was defined as within 50km of the station, and distant was defined as 550km to 750km. (Hoppock and Patrino-Echeveri 2010). The study was lead by David C. Hoppock and Dalia Patrino-Echeveri, who derived several formulas to find the least expensive means of meeting their energy requirements. They took into account electricity generated (KWh), historical wind records, types of turbines, height of turbines, distance of transmission, and transmission costs. Using these equations, it was concluded that overall, local wind resources were more cost effective in reaching the state requirement of 10,000 GWh of wind energy annually. Distant wind farms did have optimum conditions and produced the most electricity. However the construction costs of new transmission lines, upgrading the current system, and the loss of energy through heat over long distances cancelled out its benefits. There are exceptions, such as when distant sites are within 100km of existing transmission lines with the appropriate capacity, or the distance of new transmission line required is less than 25% of the distance between the wind farm and the station (Hoppock and Patrino-Echeveri 2010).

It is revealed that distant wind farming is not as economically viable as once thought. Considering the limited proximal sites, the growth of wind power may be hindered for the time being. The wind power business is still in its financial infancy, and investors are not yet ready to take such risks.

However the future for wind power still looks bright. This study was in regards to minimum state requirements, if we were looking at wind power generation on a greater scale, then distant wind farm sites would be far more useful. Some problems were highlighted that need to be addressed before that scale of generation can be reached. Hopefully in the near future there will be efficient and safe technologies for transporting electricity long distances. Possible carbon taxes and government subsidies may accelerate the shift toward wind power.

Wind power will be limited to small scale local sites for the time being, but as fossil fuels become more scarce and more emission are released contributing to global warming, more wind power is required. Wind power’s role in producing clean energy may be increased despite its financial costs.

References

Hoppock, David and Patrino-Echeveri, Dalia. 2010. Cost of Wind Energy: Comparing Distant Wind Resources to Local Resources in the Midwestern United States.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es100751p#cor1 .ACS publications.