Taming Unruly Wind Power

NY Times ^ | November 4, 2011 | MATTHEW L. WALD

[neverdem]

For decades, electric companies have swung into emergency mode when demand soars on blistering hot days, appealing to households to use less power. But with the rise of wind energy, utilities in the Pacific Northwest are sometimes dealing with the opposite: moments when there is too much electricity for the grid to soak up.

So in a novel pilot project, they have recruited consumers to draw in excess electricity when that happens, storing it in a basement water heater or a space heater outfitted by the utility. The effort is rooted in some brushes with danger.

In June 2010, for example, a violent storm in the Northwest caused a simultaneous surge in wind power and in traditional hydropower, creating an oversupply that threatened to overwhelm the grid and cause a blackout.

As a result, the Bonneville Power Administration, the wholesale supplier to a broad swath of the region, turned this year to a strategy common to regions with hot summers: adjusting volunteers’ home appliances by remote control to balance supply and demand...

--snip--

While Bonneville pays for them now, Philip D. Lusk, the power resources manager for the utility department of the city of Port Angeles — the Rothweilers’ retail supplier — said the agency might have to find additional ways of compensating consumers to get the thousands of volunteers it will eventually need to make the system effective.

If the installations are judged to benefit everyone because they improve stability, the cost might be spread among all ratepayers. But if Bonneville decides that they mainly benefit the wind generators because they never have to unplug their turbines, the agency could try to charge that industry.

Either way, said Mr. Johnson, the Bonneville spokesman, the agency will have to come up with a solution to “the cranky nature of wind.”

[familyop]

"Makes no sense because most modern turbines can “feather” their blades so they are at a 90 degree angle to the wind and they stop turning. Did the writer do any research at all?"

True. I like the kind of turbine (10-foot rotor, honest 700 watts in a good wind) that furls in higher winds and even magnetically slows as less current is required from the battery (see Midnite Classic MPPT controller and Clipper for turbines). Building it requires a little steelwork and mechanical experience/study, though, neither of which are enjoyed by government-dependent commie-NIMBYs. (17-footer, honest 3kw in a good wind). ...2-3 times the power with the Classic controller and Clipper.

[familyop]

Engineer’s comments on the Classic MPPT controller for wind turbines with the Otherpower 10-footer (username: halfcrazy, first MPPT controller for both wind turbines and PV arrays).

http://fieldlines.com/board/index.php?topic=138295.0

The Classic has been further engineered since then and is available. [I receive no pecuniary benefits from any vendor in the wind industry. ...only the money that I save for myself in a very windy and sunny place with extreme cold weather. I do all installation work for myself and receive no subsidies. ...not even wealthy enough to qualify for any subsidies and not installing expensive, wasteful, commercial versions of components in order to qualify.]

[familyop]

Oops. That one’s a little old. Here’s some newer info.

http://midnitesolar.com/smf_forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=133.0

http://www.midnitewind.com/

[itsahoot]

They were doing pump back in Oklahoma 40 years ago, made for great fishing when they finally let us in.

[stboz]

You’re with the same bunch who solved the problem of landing on the sun....by going at night.....right?

[texas booster]

Save for later. Thanks for the links.

[emax]

I have to feel the same way. I cant figure out what is wrong with advocating drilling on our own land, making use of oil sands in North Dakota, Alaska, all of the coasts AND investments in wind, solar, geothermal energy, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells. I never did get why it had to be either or. And discoruaging people from driving SUVs or trucks if they dont really need them for practical purposes or to do theur jobs effectively.

Simply proclaiming “we need oil” and not addressing the oil need in the aforementioned ways just isnt productive and puts us in continually bad positions, at home and abroad. That is why we have to fight with China, where probably at least tens of millions of people have been getting cars for the first time, over oil, we still have to rely on the folks of the Arabian penninsula for oil (even if we do utilize all our own oil)-and so they can still spread terror cells and hate madrassas from West Africa to the UK to East Asia and ignoring anyone who objects, we will have to make compromises with Mexico allowing them to send more ilelgals, and we have to stress over other nations trying to take Canadian oil. Frankyl I can figure out what about this attitude could be anything remotely resembling patriotic.

[DakotaGator]

Concur!

[familyop]

"Save for later. Thanks for the links."

You're welcome. Hopefully, anyone considering installing alternative energy equipment of any kind will do a weather study of their own place before buying components and materials. It's usually windy most of the winter here (over 9,000 ft. elev., no trees for miles, over 300 sun days per year). That's the downside: weather that most people would avoid (one night down to -15 F so far).

[Arrowhead1952]

We have a number of these being built in our area. They are 50 and 100 KW generators by CM energy and totally quiet.