Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
on the Great Lakes, and in spots on the Great Plains.
Offshore is generally better than onshore because winds
are steadier and speeds tend to be higher. However,
offshore installations are more costly to construct and
maintain than onshore, and there has been little offshore
installation as yet anywhere in the world.
Figure
also illustrates another issue that has to be
addressed to greatly expand the use of wind energy. The
electric power distribution grid needs to be modernized
to move power from the Great Plains region to the east
and south to get it to where the large demand is. This, as
we will see, is also an issue with solar electricity, and grid
modernization is a high priority if wind and solar energy
are to meet their expected potential. Although the map is
for the United States, similar situations exist in all parts of
the world. In the United Kingdom, the wind farms are
in the north while the largest loads are in the south.
Unfortunately, in the United States the only thing that
takes longer than gaining the approval for a new nuclear
power plant is gaining the approval for a new high-voltage
electrical transmission line. It is to be hoped that things
are better elsewhere, but high-voltage transmission lines
are not beautiful and seem to excite considerable local
opposition.
The variability of wind creates another problem: the
need for backup electricity supply for when the wind is
not blowing. When wind makes only a small contribution
to supply, this is not a serious problem. Only a small
standby system (usually natural gas powered) is needed
to maintain output and smooth variations. As wind makes
up a larger portion of supply this problem becomes larger
too, and I am not comfortable with the analyses that
.
