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40 comments on Goldman Likes Wind. The Kennedys and DoD Don't?

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Boof on June 14, 2006 - 6:25am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
Instead of rewarding 'green' you could punish 'brown' with carbon taxes or better still cap-and-trade. At the same time remove subsidies. The results could be unpredictable. If as claimed corn ethanol is really 80% fossil energy then it could bomb. Reputed villains like CTL could find a niche through electricity co-generation.

BTW all out windpower is not optimal because of the costs of load integration, the need for backup generation (carbon taxed fossil fuel or nukes) or energy storage. I'm not sure what optimal windpower build is but I see hints that Germany may have exceeded it.

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CliffDweller on June 14, 2006 - 11:59am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
NYSERDA and NYISO have studied the question of the degree to which NYS could rely on wind power. NYSERDA reported that world experience indicates that 10% of peak load could be wind power without adverserly affecting system reliabilty (although Denmark apparently manages to get 62% from wind). That means 3300MW of wind vs. NYS peak load of 33,000MW. Wind power above 10% peak load would require changes to the grid and the number and way fossil-fueled generators are dispatched.

As far as I know, NYSERDA didn't determine the absolute maximum wind component to maintain system reliability. It might be 15%, 20% or higher. However, they identified the maximum available wind capacity in NYS at 10,000MW (about 30% of current peak demand). Of the 10,000MW, less than 800MW is available south of Albany (154MW north of NYC and 600MW off the coast of LI).

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Nagorak on June 14, 2006 - 10:57pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The 10% figure is just lowballing.  We'll be able to integrate much more than 10%, other countries, as you note, have already done so.  
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