Forecasting the wind is critical in our ability to integrate wind energy with the existing energy grids in many parts of the country. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, “Unbridled Energy: Predicting Volatile Wind, Sun”, the author Jeffrey Ball outlines how our ability to predict weather, most importantly, the wind, is critical to our ability to stabilize the production of sufficient electricity minute by minute.

Electricity must be used at the time that it is created. We don’t often think about this, since electricity is always available when we flip on the switch. But for those people and processes involved in electricity generation, this is a common fact. Much of the power we generate is squandered because it can’t be stored. Sure, there are batteries that can store some of the power that is generated, but for the most part, it is wasted — waiting for us to flip those switches. Battery technology still isn’t able to store the amount of electricity we need consistently.

To integrate wind energy with an existing power grid, here in Texas that could be nuclear power or coal-fired plants, with the wind turbines seen dotting the west Texas landscape to produce a consistent level of power means turning down the existing plants when the wind blows and turning them back up when the wind dies down (it really doesn’t blow all the time in Texas!) Most of these existing plants weren’t designed to be quickly turned up or down, so keeping the level of power constant means very accurately predicting the wind in a given area. Sudden gusts of wind can cause problems as well as technicians scramble to stabilize the wind generators which may need to be stopped if the wind speed is too fast. As the wind generators are stopped, the power grid monitors must bring other power sources online to keep the level of power more or less constant.

As we move forward as a nation in using our natural resources in new ways, our ability to forecast and anticipate what Mother Nature has for us will determine our success in keeping our switches ‘On’.

References: “Unbridled Energy: Predicting Volatile Wind, Sun” by Jeffrey Ball, Wall Street Journal, Friday, October 2, 2009