The OurEnergyLibrary aggregates and indexes publicly available fact sheets, journal articles, reports, studies, and other publications on U.S. energy topics. It is updated every week to include the most recent energy resources from academia, government, industry, non-profits, think tanks, and trade associations. Suggest a resource by emailing us at info@ourenergypolicy.org.
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A number of wind energy integration studies have investigated the monetary value of using day-ahead wind power forecasts for grid operation decisions. Historically, these studies have shown that large cost savings could be gained by grid operators implementing the forecasts in their system operations. To date, none of these studies have investigated the value of shorter term (0- to 6-h ahead) wind power forecasts. In 2010, the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration partnered to form the Wind Forecasting Improvement Project (WFIP) to fund improvements in short-term wind forecasts and determine the economic value of these …
View Full ResourceVariable 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 …
View Full ResourceThe United States has subsidized the wind industry for 35 years. The subsidies began with the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) and Energy Tax Act (ETA) of 1978. Subsequently, with passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) wind subsidies were increased through a variety of programs, most prominently the federal production tax credit (PTC). In many electric markets, the value of the PTC tax subsidy is greater than the price of electricity itself.
Today, many in Congress are debating whether it makes sense to continue subsidizing wind, including the Senate’s proposed one-year, $12.2 billion3 extension, given the …
View Full ResourceThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the CPUC and other State regulators can further address cybersecurity as it relates to grid resiliency, reliability and safety. In particular, this paper recommends that the CPUC opens an Order Instituting Rulemaking (OIR) to further investigate appropriate cybersecurity policies.
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View Full ResourceMuch of the electricity grid was planned, sited, and constructed decades ago. Upgrades and new lines are required to maintain reliability and to bring electricity to load or population centers. Recent mandates for renewables necessitate new lines to be built to connect remote areas where utility-scale wind, solar, and other resources are usually found. The investment needed is at least in the tens of billions of dollars. New transmission lines may run hundreds or even over a thousand miles, crossing federal, state, and local jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction may require a separate approval for a project, depending on its specific geography.…
View Full ResourceU.S. energy law and the scholarship analyzing it are deeply fragmented. Each source of energy has a distinct legal regime, and limited federal regulation in some areas has resulted in divergent state and local approaches to regulation. Much of the existing energy law literature reflects these substantive and structural divisions, and focuses on particular aspects of the energy system and associated federalism disputes. However, in order to meet modern energy challenges—such as reducing risks from deepwater drilling and hydraulic fracturing, maintaining the reliability of the electricity grid in this period of rapid technological change, and producing cleaner energy—we need a …
View Full ResourceHigh winds, especially when combined with precipitation from seasonal storms, can cause damage to electricity utility systems, resulting in service interruptions to large numbers of electricity customers. While most such power outages are caused by damage from trees and tree limbs falling on local electricity distribution lines and poles, major power outages tend to be caused by damage to electricity transmission lines which carry bulk power long distances. Depending on the severity of the storm and resulting impairment, power outages can last a few hours or extend to periods of several days, and have real economic effects. Power outages can …
View Full ResourceThe North American bulk power system (BPS) is one of the most critical of infrastructures and is vital to society in many ways. The electric power industry has well-established planning and operating procedures in place to address the “normal” emergency events (e.g., hurricanes, tornadoes, and ice storms) that occur from time to time and disrupt electricity reliability. However, the electricity industry has much less experience with planning for and responding to high-impact events that have a low probability of occurring or have not yet occurred.
To help the electricity industry better understand these low probability risks, in June 2010, NERC …
View Full ResourceThe North American bulk power system (BPS) is one of the most critical of infrastructures, vital to society in many ways, but it is not immune to severe disruptions that could threaten the health, safety, or economic well‐being of the citizens it serves. The electric power industry has well established planning and operating procedures in place to address “normal” emergency events (e.g., hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms) that occur from time to time and disrupt electric reliability. However, the electricity industry has much less experience with planning for and responding to high‐impact events that have a low probability of occurring.
To …
View Full ResourceThe bulk power system is one of North America’s most critical infrastructures, underpinning the continent’s governments, economy and society. As reliance on electricity-dependent technology has increased, the reliability of the power grid has become more important each day. The electric sector has recognized the importance of the infrastructure it operates and has had a long history of successfully managing day-to-day operational and probabilistic risk to the reliability of the system to ensure the “lights stay on” for consumers.
A class of risks, called High-Impact, Low-Frequency (HILF) events, has recently become a renewed focus of risk managers and policy makers. These …
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