Thursday 21 March 2013

Texas wind energy sets record; grid expansion planned in Sweetwater area

www.reporternews.com
1 Mar 2013

Texas set a record for the%age of electricity generated by wind power--a staggering 28% of total supply across the state's main grid system--with wind generation providing 9,481 MWs of power at 7:08 p.m. Feb. 9, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said Friday.

This surpassed the previous record of 8,667 MW set Jan. 29, when 32.5% of wind integration was recorded, the council said. Twenty-three days in February topped 20% as far as wind integration is concerned.

More than 7,000 of the 9,481 MW on Feb. 9 came from West Texas wind farms. One MW is enough electricity to power about 200 homes during periods when electricity use is highest and about 500 homes during periods of typical consumption.

ERCOT has more than 10,400 MW of commercial wind power capacity, and wind power comprised 9.2% of total energy used in the ERCOT region last year, compared with 8.5% in 2011, according to ERCOT, which manages the grid for the state's total electric load, matching supply and demand for 23 million customers across 40,500 miles of transmission lines.

"What that (%age of wind integration) represents is the highest portion of load served on record by wind power", said Robbie Searcy, spokeswoman for ERCOT. "It tells us at what point in the day wind generation hit its (highest)%age: Wind power can change all throughout the day".

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