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Wind and Hydropower Team Up in Northwest
Wind Meshes Seamlessly With Electric Grid: The Washington Post reports today that the Pacific Northwest has practically perfect conditions to add wind power to their electric grid -- and they are doing it ("Air, Water Powerful Partners in Northwest", by Blaine Harden). The region's utilities say they can almost triple the use of wind power, from 3 percent of electricity generation to 8 percent, by adding 6,000 megawatts of wind power to the grid -- enough to power more than 1.3 million homes.
The article explains that because the Northwest has so much hydropower, the wind power can be integrated efficiently. When the wind is blowing, the hydro dams can ease up and release more water into local rivers -- a plus. When the wind stops, the dams can increase electricity production "faster and more efficiently than coal-fired or nuclear plants."
The Northwest also has high voltage power lines in place where wind turbines could go.
The one question seems to be how the wind-and-hydro combination would affect salmon, which travel up Northwest rivers to spawn.
The wind scheme sounds promising. What do you think?
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3/24/07 6:03 PM