Renewable Energy: Alternatives No More - Grid Integration in the U.S. Power System

Advances in technology, reduction in costs, and improvements in how to plan and operate a highly renewable power system have enabled variable generation (VG) resources, namely wind and solar power, to become mainstays of a clean, reliable, and affordable grid. The operational capabilities of VG have evolved to now allow these resources the potential to provide balancing and stability grid services traditionally delivered only by conventional generators. But are there limits to these services and, more generally, limits to how much VG we can put on the grid? This talk will cover the basics of the electric grid, tools and methods for analyzing the impacts of integrating VG resources into the grid, and a discussion on ways to mitigate challenges introduced by high penetrations of VG.