NPR’s Morning Edition has been looking at the future of the grid recently in a new 10-part series called “Power Hungry: Reinventing the US Electric Grid.” They also developed some cool web-specific content on the topic, like this interactive map of the US that shows existing and planned transmission lines, power plants, and renewable capacity. While the whole series is worth checking out, here are the must-listen “episodes” if you’re interested in the smart grid:
The Boston Sunday Globe had a great article on an uptick in interest in community wind projects here in the Bay State — highlighted by a vignette on an abbey of nuns who are choosing to site a wind turbine on their land in order to harness a “gift of creation” to serve 75% of their electricity needs.
Public perception of wind’s acceptance in Massachusetts has been driven largely by the Cape Wind project, the hotly contested 130-turbine offshore farm that would sit between Cape Cod and Nantucket. But as this article points out - community wind might be just the ticket for this densely populated region with decent wind resources, a green-leaning populace, and high electricity prices.
A few months ago I was at a conference on energy storage in Waltham MA and there, something I had long suspected, was confirmed - A123 Systems was indeed expanding into the utility-scale energy storage market. By leveraging the lithium-ion battery technology they developed for their powertools and vehicle products, A123 was able to develop a storage unit capable of providing ancillary services to the grid. What are these “ancillary services” that batteries can address? Ancillary services are required to ensure the reliable delivery of electricity and represent some of the highest-value and most-lucrative capacity in an electric market. Most of these services are designed with “grid stabilization” in mind and are used to address short-term fluctuations in supply and demand, frequency, or voltage.
While grid-connected storage isn’t a new concept, it has only been deployed in limited fashion. Battery-based technologies have been held back by technical limitation (i.e. lead-acid) and cost. Pumped hydropower, which uses the flow from water resevoirs to spin turbines, has been a form of storage that has seen relative success (about 90 GW deployed worldwide), but it is hampered by topographical requirements, cost, and construction time.
Different storage technologies have different characteristics and therefore different applications. For example, pumped hydro is not well-designed for rapid, short duration dispatch, but it can provide capacity for longer periods. This is what makes two rapidly growing battery technologies so exciting: lithium-ion and sodium-sulfur.
We need more wind power - that’s why we should electrify the transportation sector, not power it off natural gas.
T. Boone Pickens and the national energy plan he’s evangelizing are receiving significant media attention. His plan contains two main proposals – the expansion of wind power throughout the US, and the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel. Despite the wonderful media story this oil-turned-wind baron represents, the truth of the matter is his plan is well-intentioned but misguided. Wind power capacity should surely be expanded, but increasing natural gas demand is the last thing we need. Pickens is overlooking a clear alternative, and one that will help deploy even more wind-powered generation – the electrification of the transportation sector.
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