Wind Energy Could Produce 20
Percent of U.S. Electricity By 2030
DOE Report Analyzes U.S. Wind
Resources, Technology Requirements, and Manufacturing,
Siting and Transmission Hurdles to Increasing the Use of
Clean and Sustainable Wind Power
 WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S Department of Energy
(DOE) today released a first-of-its kind report that
examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind
power to provide up to 20 percent of the nation’s total
electricity needs by 2030. Entitled “20 Percent Wind
Energy by 2030”, the report identifies requirements to
achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind
technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and
enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably,
the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative
gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million
metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind
energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity
mix. As part of President Bush’s Advanced Energy
Initiative announced in 2006, clean, secure and
sustainable wind energy has the potential to play an
increasingly important role in the Bush Administration’s
long-term energy strategy to make investments today to
fundamentally change the way we power U.S. homes and
businesses and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
growth by 2025.
“DOE’s wind report is a
thorough look at America’s wind resource, its industrial
capabilities, and future energy prices, and confirms the
viability and commercial maturity of wind as a major
contributor to America’s energy needs, now and in the future,”
DOE Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy Andy Karsner, said.
“To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance
our energy security, clean power generation at the
gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a
comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power,
streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the
domestic wind manufacturing base.”
Prepared by the U.S.
Department of Energy and a broad cross section of stakeholders
across industry, government, and three of DOE’s national
laboratories - the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Golden, CO; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley,
CA; and Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, the
report presents an in-depth analysis of the potential for wind
in the U.S. and outlines a potential scenario to boost wind
electric generation from its current production of 16.8
gigawatts (GW) to 304 GW by 2030. For its technical report, DOE
also drew on the expertise of the American Wind Energy
Association and Black and Veatch engineering consultants and
the report reflects input from more than fifty energy
organizations and corporations.
The analysis concludes that
reaching 20 percent wind energy will require enhanced
transmission infrastructure, streamlined siting and permitting
regimes, improved reliability and operability of wind systems,
and increased U.S. wind manufacturing capacity. Highlights of
the report include:
- Annual
installations need to increase more than
threefold.
Achieving 20 percent wind will require the number of annual
turbine installations to increase from approximately 2000
in 2006 to almost 7000 in 2017.
- Costs of
integrating intermittent wind power into the grid are
modest. 20 percent wind can be reliably
integrated into the grid for less than 0.5 cents per
kWh.
- No material
constraints currently
exist.
Although demand for copper, fiberglass and other raw
materials will increase, achieving 20 percent wind is
not limited by the availability of raw
materials.
- Transmission
challenges need to be
addressed.
Issues related to siting and cost allocation of new
transmission lines to access the Nation’s best wind
resources will need to be resolved in order to
achieve 20 percent wind.
“The report correctly
highlights that greater penetration of renewable sources of
energy - such as wind - into our electric grid will have to be
paired with not only advanced integration technologies but also
new transmission,” DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Electricity
Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin Kolevar said. “In many
cases, the most robust sources of renewable resources are
located in remote areas, and if we want to be able to deliver
these new clean and abundant sources of energy to population
centers, we will need additional transmission.”
With the U.S. leading the
world in new wind installations and having the potential to be
the world leader in total wind capacity by 2010, DOE’s report
comes at an important time in wind development. Last year, U.S.
cumulative wind energy capacity reached 16,818 megawatts (MW) –
with more than 5,000 MW of wind installed in 2007. Wind
contributed to more than 30 percent of the new U.S. generation
capacity in 2007, making it the second largest source of new
power generation in the nation --- surpassed only by natural
gas. The U.S. wind energy industry invested approximately $9
billion in new generating capacity in 2007, and has experienced
a 30 percent annual growth rate in the last 5 years.
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