Researchers find US grid can handle more offshore wind power
Researchers from the University of Delaware and Princeton University have found that the US electrical grid can effectively handle more offshore wind power by using simulation model.
The researchers claimed that the grids can handle additional load with some upgrades to transmission lines without any need for added storage.
Additional supply of offshore wind power will also help in cutting electricity costs and pollution compared to current fossil fuel sources, the researchers said.
In consultation of grid operator PJM Interconnection, the researchers developed a computer model that can simulate how the electric grid could respond to injections of wind power from offshore wind farms.
The simulation model of PJM, created at Princeton called Smart-ISO, can deal with the variability and uncertainty of growing inputs of offshore wind energy. The model enabled to simulate an extensive power grid with more than 60,000 miles of transmission lines.
The team has demonstrated that PJM can handle about 35GW of offshore wind with some upgrades to transmission and without added storage, helping to power more than 10 million homes.
Researchers used stochastic modeling, which enabled to carry out multiple forecasts with various tweaks in conditions to represent the fluctuating and unpredictable behavior of wind.
It was also found during the study that the handling capacity of PJM grid can be increased up to 70 gigawatts with the improvement in wind forecasting.
