General economics of renewable integration

Worldwide, wind energy has expanded dramatically. In the U.S., renewable energy has been capturing a growing percent of new electric central generation capacity additions over the past few years. While this expansion is driven, in part, by regulation and incentives, steady improvements in technology have contributed substantially. Turbine sizes and capability are ever increasing. Blade designs are now more specialized, allowing turbines to extract more energy from wind streams, and the integral power electronics are much higher in efficiency and more reliable than they were in earlier models. In addition, computer modeling procedures have evolved to dictate a more efficient overall turbine design. This, coupled with numerous manufacturing improvements, has established wind power generation as a commercially viable technology. However, issues of integration of high penetrations of large renewable resources remain largely unresolved. This paper examines the current trends in capital, integration, and operating and maintenance costs and concludes offering a comparison of large central generation technologies.