Up with Wind

Utility planners and operators must meet the challenge of integrating increasing levels of wind power into their electrical power systems as wind power continues to be one of the fastest-growing energy sources. Careful development and validation of the wind data inputs to an integration study are essential to obtain results. The Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) was used at EWITS to generate wind-resource and power-output projections at potential onshore and offshore wind plant sites in the eastern United States. Once the MASS simulations were completed, data were extracted at ten-minute intervals. In the TradeWind study, NNGR analyses at six-hour intervals were used as a cost-effective, consistent data set across Europe. The data set derived within the TradeWind study was used as the basis for the analyses undertaken in the European Wind Integration Study (EWIS). EWITS evaluates the operational impact of large amounts of wind on the Eastern Interconnection and coincides with transmission analyses being conducted by several regional grid operators.