FYI
From: Wildlife and
Endangered Species Forum [mailto:CONS-WPST-WES-FORUM@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG] On Behalf Of Dan Boone
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
4:41 PM
To:
CONS-WPST-WES-FORUM@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
Subject: Renewables = Wind
Turbines
Greetings,
I just completed an analysis of PJM's database of generation projects
for which applications are currently pending for interconnection study to
determine the feasibility of hooking-up to the grid. There are 588
applications currently on file in the active Generation Interconnection Request
"queues" - see:
My goal was to determine the number and MWs of renewable energy
projects within PJM's active "queues", and what percentage of these
are represented by industrial windplants.
As of today, approximately half of all the project applications to PJM
requesting a grid interconnection study involve renewable energy
generation (about 288 of the 588 total requests). Renewable energy
projects are fueled by wind, solar, biomass, wood, methane gas or
hydropower. These approximately 288 projects represent about
28,600 MW of generating capacity - about 30% of the total generating
capacity of all the projects that have requested an interconnection study
within PJM's region.
Following is a summary of the number of projects and their combined MWs
of generating capacity for all "renewable energy" interconnection
requests to PJM:
# project requests
MW %
of total non-hydro %
Solar 1
3
.01% .01%
Other
(tires)
1 20
.07% .07%
Wood
2
82
.29% .30%
Methane
61
332
1.16% 1.21%
Biomass
14 400
1.40% 1.46%
Hydro
17 1,059
3.71%
Wind
193
26,647
93.36% 96.95%
Total
288
28,543
Note that currently over 93% of the generating capacity of all
renewable energy projects which have applied to PJM for interconnection study
is due to industrial wind energy facilities.
However, since every Renewables Portfolio Standard law so far enacted
by states in the Mid-Atlantic Region and NC either currently or eventually
will exclude most to all hydropower projects from being considered as a
"qualifying" source of Renewable Energy Credits, the proportion of
the combined generating capacity of "non-hydro" renewable energy
projects in PJM's active "queues" that are fueled by wind is nearly
97%.
The PJM grid region covers the entire Mid-Atlantic region and extends
westward into northern IL - see map indicating the extent of PJM's service area
via: http://www.miso-pjm.com
.
I was intrigued by the PJM result, and decided to pursue this line of
inquiry to all the other grid regions of the
A very similar pattern to what I found in PJM occurs in the Midwest ISO
grid region (see map of MISO's service area via: http://www.miso-pjm.com ). The MISO
region has over 65,500 MW of wind energy projects in their
"interconnection study" queue, and wind turbines represents 99%
of all the generating capacity of renewable energy projects so far proposed in
this grid.
In
For south-central US, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) grid manager
reports over 19,300 MW of wind energy projects have applied for interconnection
study - which represents nearly 100% of all the generating capacity associated
with renewable energy projects in their "queue".
Likewise, for NY and
In contrast, for the western half of the US (WECC), although
11,200 MW of wind energy projects are proposed for interconnection
study, there is in addition over 5,200 MW of generating capacity
proposed for "non-hydro" renewable energy
projects. Consequently, wind turbines represent only 2/3 of the
generating capacity of all the "non-hydro" renewable energy
projects so far proposed within this huge region.
When you hear that "renewable energy" projects are expected
to help satisfy our future need for electricity, you should realize this
general claim overwhelmingly will apply to Industrial Wind Turbines.
Except for the western half of the US, only a very tiny percentage of
the electricity generating capacity of proposed renewable energy projects
will come from facilities whose fuel source is solar,
biomass, geothermal or methane.
Renewables = Wind Turbines!
Percentage of
Grid Region MW
of wind “non-hydro” renewables
Mid-Atlantic region (PJM): 26,600
MW 97%
Upper Mid-West (MISO): 65,500 MW 99%
South-central region (SPP): 19,300
MW 100%
TOTAL: 167,000 MW
Notes:
a) numbers are rounded to nearest 100 MW;
b) some numbers may be inflated due to multiple requests
for interconnection study
involving same project;
c) entry in the queue does not guarantee a project will be
built; however, it is an
indicator of activity.
d) “non-hydro” renewables include solar,
biomass, biogas, geothermal and methane.
Dan Boone
PS - following are weblinks to the MISO, NYISO, NEISO, ERCOT, SPP and
WECC grid region's interconnection study queues:
MISO
NYISO
NEISO
ERCOT
SPP
WECC
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To
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