Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
abating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. his economic change has largely
negated the strongest defense of fossil fuel advocates and shifted the main
policy challenge from “Should we invest in wind power?” to “How much
wind power is optimal?” As the two quotes at the beginning of this chapter
imply, there is still a great deal of ideological diference of opinion in regard
to how this new question is answered; however, there is no denying that
wind power is enjoying a phase of unprecedented development.
In order to understand how wind power its into the nation's electricity
generation plans, it is useful to gain a clearer perspective on the scope and
crux of challenges the United States faces in the sector.
7.2 AN OVERVIEW OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN THE
UNITED STATES
Mammoth. his is an appropriate adjective for describing America's elec-
tricity generation infrastructure. In 2011, the nation boasted 982.8 GW of
installed electricity generation capacity,
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designed to meet annual electric-
ity consumption of over 4.1 trillion kilowatt hours, a level of consumption
that is approximately 20% more than all 25 European OECD nations put
together. Moreover, demand for electricity is expected to increase by 16%
between 2011 and 2040.
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Although one would be correct in assuming that new electricity genera-
tion infrastructure will be needed to keep pace with demand, the challenges
of adding new power infrastructure does not adequately convey the enor-
mity of America's power provision dilemma. he nation is currently saddled
with an aging power grid and a leet of electricity generation plants that are
nearing obsolescence. Investment in transmission and distribution (T&D)
infrastructure has signiicantly lagged behind generation capacity expan-
sion over the past two decades. One study has estimated a deterioration of
transmission capacity in the United States of 11% between 2002 and 2012.
In addition to lagging T&D investment, the infrastructure that currently
exists is aging. For example, it purportedly costs over US$1 billion each
year just to replace corroded cabling in New York's T&D network. In terms
of existing electricity generation capacity, there are plans to build approx-
imately 120 coal ired power stations between 2008 and 2018, largely to
replace dilapidated units. Moreover, operating permits for 40% of America's
nuclear power plants are set to expire by 2020. Altogether, refurbishments
and upgrades to existing generation facilities, transmission infrastructure
and distribution networks to keep up with demand will likely cost trillions
of dollars.
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