Full Title: Integration of Variable Generation and Cost-Causation
Author(s): National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Publisher(s): National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Publication Date: September 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Variable renewable energy generation sources, such as wind and solar energy, provide benefits such as reduced environmental impact, zero fuel consumption, and low and stable costs. However, their variability and uncertainty – which change with weather conditions, time of day and season – can mean increased power system operating costs.
The primary costs come from additional operating (flexibility) reserves needed to ensure system reliability and impacts on the operations of nonrenewable generation. Generally, integration costs have been found by various utilities to be manageable and modest compared with electricity prices, but there is little agreement on methodologies used to determine those costs or even whether they are measurable.