Smart Grid Observer


Wind Energy

DOE Releases New Reports Highlighting Record Growth, Declining Costs of Wind Power
August 31, 2021 | U.S. Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy this week (Aug 30) released three reports showing record growth in land-based wind energy, significant expansion of the pipeline for offshore wind projects, and continued decline in the cost of wind energy generation - laying the groundwork for significant future gains as the Biden Administration pursues rapid acceleration of renewable energy deployment to reach its goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.    more

NREL Methods Assist Maui in Approaching 100% Renewable Operations
August 3, 2021
Through 2024, Maui is scheduled to bring online more than 175 MW of new solar-storage hybrid power plants. This, in addition to the almost 200 MW of wind and solar presently on the grid, will be enough renewable power to supply Maui's roughly 70,000 customers without using conventional generation for many hours of the year. But managing such a high proportion of resources that are inherently uncertain is a first for any grid of Maui's size, so the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is developing and validating multi-timescale tools that will bring Maui and other systems closer to 100% clean and stable energy futures. more

New Study by ArcVera Shows Texas Icing Event Led to Over $4 Billion Financial Loss for Wind Farms
April 27, 2021 | ArcVera Renewables
The study set out to quantify the lost energy production and calculate the financial impact of the rare Texas winter weather event. It is focused on wind farm outages reported by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid operator for the period 14-19 February 2021, when the grid experienced extensive wind farm downtime, lost energy production, and high hub-settled electricity prices. Three repricing scenarios are evaluated using market pricing before the imposition of $9000/MWh prices by ERCOT.    more

Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy
April 1, 2021 | Wärtsilä Energy
Wärtsilä has modelled 145 countries and regions to find the optimal way to produce electricity from 100% renewable energy sources. The interactive map illustrates how the power system of each of these regions would look like if they were to be optimally built from scratch, not considering the burden of existing power plants.    view map


Energy Secretary Granholm Announces Ambitious New 30GW Offshore Wind Deployment Target by 2030
March 30, 2021
Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm earlier this week joined the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce at a White House roundtable meeting to announce a national goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. This effort is expected to support approximately 77,000 jobs in industry and surrounding communities, generate electricity to power over 10 million American homes, and cut 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.    more

Siemens Energy Wins Its First Black-Start Battery Storage Project for Power Generation in the U.S.
January 29, 2021
Siemens Energy announced this week that it will design, build and commission a black-start system at Clearway's Marsh Landing Generating Station near Antioch, California. Black-start capabilities will allow the station to restart the flow of electricity to the facility's auxiliary systems without the support of an external power supply in the case of an outage or blackout situation.    more

President Biden Signs Executive Order to Double Offshore Wind by 2030
January 29, 2021
President Biden signed an Executive Order that includes doubling offshore wind power generation in U.S. federal waters by 2030. The order also directs the Department of Interior to conduct a full assessment of the siting processes that will align U.S. public lands and water management practices with Administration goals to advance renewable energy production.    more

Equinor Selected for Largest-ever U.S. Offshore Wind Award
January 14, 2021
Under the award, Equinor and incoming strategic partner bp will provide 1,260 megawatts of offshore wind power from Empire Wind 2, and another 1,230 MW of power from Beacon Wind 1 - adding to the existing commitment to provide New York with 816 MW of renewable power from Empire Wind 1 - totaling 3.3 gigawatts of power to the State.    more

AWEA Releases 2021 Clean Energy Road Map
November 18, 2020 | M.J. Bradley & Associates and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) this week released its Vision for Driving a Clean Energy Transformation Plan for the incoming administration, laying out the four pillars that the federal government can harness to achieve long-term clean energy and carbon goals.    more

Ameren Establishes Net-Zero Carbon Emissions Goal and A Transformative Expansion of Wind and Solar Energy
September 29, 2020
"This is a step change in renewable energy investments and carbon emission reductions from the plan we presented three years ago," said Marty Lyons, chairman and president of Ameren Missouri. "Under our plan, customers will receive significant benefits from advances in technology and falling renewable energy costs, as well as from robust energy efficiency programs to help keep their energy costs affordable."    more

California Renewable Energy Providers Urge State Investments in a More Diverse, Reliable Mix of Clean Energy to Prevent Future Capacity Shortfalls
August 21, 2020
"The State needs to refocus its planning and procurement processes to enable utility-scale wind, solar, and storage to provide reliable power to California before retiring our aging conventional fleet," says Danielle Osborn Mills, Director of the American Wind Energy Association of California.    more

The First Floating Wind Farm In Continental Europe Is Now Fully Operational
August 17, 2020
The project's success is rooted in its technology. Its mooring technology, for example, allows for installation in waters over 100 m deep, and its design offers stability in adverse weather and sea conditions. Another key advantage was the assembly technology used: dry-dock assembly provided significant logistical and financial savings, and the platforms were towed using standard tug boats.    more


Masdar and EDF Renewables Agree to Partner in Eight Renewable Energy Projects in United States
August 14, 2020
Under the terms of the agreement, Masdar has acquired a 50 percent interest in three utility-scale wind farms in Nebraska and Texas totaling 815 megawatts (MW), and five photovoltaic (PV) solar projects in California - two of which include battery energy storage systems - totaling 689 MW of solar and 75 MW of lithium-ion battery energy storage.    more

Offshore Wind Will Surge to Over 234 GW by 2030, Led by Asia-Pacific
August 10, 2020 | Global Wind Energy Council
With 6.1 GW of new capacity added, 2019 was the best year in history for the global offshore wind industry and 6.6 GW is expected to be installed in 2020 despite the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, according to the report from GWEC.    more


New York Announces Largest Combined Solicitations for Renewable Energy Ever Issued in the U.S. to Combat Climate Change
August 5, 2020
New York's second offshore wind solicitation seeks up to 2,500 megawatts of projects, the largest in the nation's history, in addition to last year's solicitation which resulted in nearly 1,700 megawatts awarded. This solicitation has the potential to bring New York State halfway toward its goal of 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035.    more

Wind Energy Market to Witness Steady Growth of 12% During Forecast Period
August 3, 2020
According to a recent study from market research firm Global Market Insights, the wind energy market is set to grow from its current market value of more than $70 billion to over $160 billion by 2024 - gaining remarkable traction over the 2017 to 2024 period.    more


Dominion Energy Completes Construction of First Offshore Wind Project in U.S. Federal Waters
June 30, 2020
The installation of Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot turbines is now complete. The project will enter service later this summer and provide enough clean and renewable energy at peak output to power 3,000 Virginia homes. Survey work continues on-schedule for 2.6 gigawatts full-scale deployment, the largest offshore wind project in North America.    more

The World's First Energy Islands Are Becoming a Reality in Denmark
June 24, 2020
The largest of the new energy islands is going to be an artificial island in the Danish North Sea. The island is going to be established by 2030 at the latest with 3 GW offshore wind connected through the island. In time, the island will connect 10 GW offshore wind and host electricity storage and power-to-X as well as housing, O&M facilities and HVDC converters for transmission and interconnectors.    more

Corporate Customers Buying Record Amount of American Wind Power
June 15, 2020
The report reveals corporate customers across a variety of industry sectors now purchase 10 percent of all operating wind capacity in the country. The U.S. wind market is increasingly attractive as businesses strive to meet sustainability targets and improve their bottom lines, with total contracts rising from fewer than 800 MW at the end of 2013 to over 16,800 MW at the end of 2019.    more

OREAC: 1,400 GW of Offshore Wind Is Possible by 2050, and Will Be Key for Green Recovery
June 9, 2020
A report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy finds that 1,400 GW of offshore wind would power one-tenth of global electricity demand while saving over 3 billion tons of CO2 per year, equal to taking 800 million cars off the road.    more


AEP Receives Enough Approvals to Move Forward With 1,485-Megawatt North Central Wind Projects
May 28, 2020
AEP will invest approximately $2 billion in this new renewable energy to serve its Southwestern Electric Power Company and Public Service Company of Oklahoma customers. The company's regulated integrated resource plans call for the addition of more than 8,000 MW of wind and solar and 1,600 MW of natural gas between 2020 and 2030.    more

America Has Lost 594,300 Clean Energy Jobs; 850,000 Expected by June 30
May 18, 2020
Nearly 600,000 U.S. clean energy workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after 447,208 new workers filed unemployment claims in April- tripling the claims filed in March. That's according to a new analysis of unemployment data released last week by E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), E4TheFuture, and BW Research Partnership.    more

Dominion Energy Nears Construction on First-Ever Offshore Wind Turbines in U.S. Federal Waters
April 22, 2020
"Even though this project consists of two monopiles and transition pieces, it has profound importance for the development of the U.S. offshore wind market, as this is the first project that successfully has passed all phases of BOEM approval," said Christoph Schorge, CEO of the EEW Group. "This milestone will pave the way for the large-scale commercial projects to follow."    more

Wind Emerges as America's Top Choice for New Power
April 20, 2020 | American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
Wind power emerged from 2019 as America's top choice for new power after building 9.1 gigawatts (GW), representing 39 percent of new utility-scale power additions. With these additions, operating wind power capacity in the U.S. now stands at over 105 GW, enough to power 32 million American homes.    more


Survey: Voters Strongly Favor Offshore Wind Energy
April 10, 2020 | American Wind Energy Association
“Voters are strongly in favor of offshore wind energy, regardless of ideology or party affiliation,” said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. “Republicans and Democrats alike see offshore wind as playing a key role in the nation’s future energy portfolio, providing tremendous economic and environmental benefits and helping stabilize the cost of electricity.”    more

Clean Energy Sector Emphasizes Its Role in Repowering America in Light of COVID-19 Crisis
March 26, 2020
"If federal and state lawmakers want to get America back to work, one of the most proven ways is with policies that expand America's fastest-growing job sector - clean energy - and support the nearly 3.4 million workers employed in every state and county across the country," says Bob Keefe, executive director of the national, nonpartisan business group E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs).    more

US Offshore Wind Poised for Exponential Growth
March 12, 2020
Market projections anticipate 20,000 to 30,000 MW of offshore wind capacity will be operational by 2030, representing up to $57 billion of investment in the U.S. economy. AWEA's report estimates that developing this amount of offshore wind will support up to 45,000 jobs by 2025 and 83,000 jobs by 2030, depending on the level of offshore wind build and supply chain growth within the U.S.    more

Latest NREL Grid Data Book Reveals Key Trends in Renewable Integration.htm
March 4, 2020
Produced by NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center and LBNL's Electricity Markets and Policy Group, the Renewable Energy Grid Integration Data Book is intended to provide an overview of selected grid integration metrics that reflect recent changes to the operation and composition of the power system as variable renewable energy sources increase their shares of electricity supply.    more

MPSC Reports: Energy Waste Reduction To Save Customers $1.1B; Wind's Dominance Continues In Renewable Energy
February 19, 2020
Energy waste reduction efforts saved nearly 1.5 million megawatt hours of electricity and almost 5 million cubic feet of natural gas in 2018, while wind generation of electricity continued its dominance in Michigan as the largest source of renewable energy in 2019, according to two annual reports released today by the Michigan Public Service Commission.    more

Wind Industry Experiences Third Strongest Year on Record With 9,143 MW of Wind Power Added to U.S. Grid
February 3, 2020 | AWEA
"The demand and growth of U.S. wind energy can't be understated," said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. "Today, there are nearly 60,000 wind turbines spinning across 41 states powering the equivalent of over 32 million American homes. Demand for wind energy is greater than ever as evidenced by corporations and utilities signing contracts in record numbers."    more

New British Renewable Energy Record as Wind Smashes 16 Gigawatt Threshold
December 10, 2019
The record was set on the evening of December 8, with wind generating up to 16.162GW according to National Grid. Their data shows that overall on Sunday wind provided 43.7% of British electricity, more than double the amount that nuclear produced at 20.5%. Gas supplied 12.8%, biomass 7.9%, imports 7.4%, coal 3.1%, hydro 1.7%, solar 1.3%, storage 1.1% and other sources 0.5%.    more

RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables Unveil Vision for UK's Floating Wind Industry
November 4, 2019
RenewableUK and Scottish Renewables have released a joint report which sets out the industry's vision for the UK's cutting-edge floating offshore wind sector. The industry estimates that floating wind can support 17,000 UK jobs by 2050, particularly in coastal communities in England, Scotland and Wales, delivering £33.6bn of economic activity (GVA). This represents a return of £15 for each £1 invested in early stage support.    more

US Wind Power Reaches Milestone 100 Gigawatts, 46 Gigawatts More On The Way
November 1, 2019
There are now more than 100 gigawatts of wind farms operating across the U.S., enough to power 32 million American homes, marking a major milestone in the transition to a cleaner electricity supply. The 100 GW milestone was first reported in the recent release of the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) U.S. Wind Industry Third Quarter 2019 Market Report.    more

Asia Poised to Become Dominant Market for Wind Energy
October 30, 2019 | IRENA
According to the report, global wind power could rise ten-fold reaching over 6000 GW by 2050. By midcentury, wind could cover one third of global power needs and – combined with electrification – deliver a quarter of the energy-related carbon emission reductions needed to meet the Paris climate targets. To reach this objective, onshore and offshore wind capacity will need to increase four-fold and ten-fold respectively every year compared to today.    more

Offshore Wind to Become a $1 Trillion Industry
October 28, 2019
The IEA finds that global offshore wind capacity may increase 15-fold and attract around $1 trillion of cumulative investment by 2040. This is driven by falling costs, supportive government policies and some remarkable technological progress, such as larger turbines and floating foundations.    more


New York Finalizes Contracts for Largest Offshore Wind Procurement in U.S.
October 24, 2019
Alicia Barton, President and CEO, NYSERDA said, "By every measure, New York's first offshore wind procurement was a resounding success and the execution of contracts today (10/23) signifies a major milestone in our nation-leading pursuit to deliver clean, locally-produced power to millions of New York homes and businesses.    more


DOE Awards $28 Million for Wind Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Projects
October 23, 2019
The selected projects span the technology development spectrum including testing, demonstration, integration, and technical assistance and cover all three wind energy sectors: distributed, offshore, and land-based utility-scale wind.    more


NREL Publishes Science Journal Article Posing Three Challenges to Wind Energy Potential
October 11, 2019
Wind energy researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are among a team of authors inviting the scientific community to address three challenges that will drive the innovation needed for wind to become one of the world's primary sources of low-cost electricity generation. Their call to action appeared in a new journal article published in Science.    more

Latest UK Energy Stats Show Wind Leading the Way - While Coal Drops to Almost Nothing
September 30, 2019
RenewableUK is highlighting new energy statistics released by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Government's latest Energy Trends report shows 35.5% of the UK's electricity was generated by renewables in the second quarter of the year, up 3.5% from the same period last year.    more


Nation's First Major Energy Facility Co-Locating Wind, Solar and Battery Storage
February 14, 2019
Portland General Electric Company and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC have announced plans to construct a new energy facility in Eastern Oregon combining 300 megawatts of wind generation with 50 megawatts of solar generation and 30 megawatts of battery storage.    more

Consumer Demand Drives Record Year for Wind Energy Purchases
January 31, 2019
Fortune 500 brands and a range of other non-utility entities, including cities and universities, are catalyzing America's growing demand for renewable energy by purchasing a record amount of wind power in 2018 according to a new report released this week by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).    more

Corporate Wind Energy PPAs Are Booming
January 31, 2019
Companies around Europe have now signed nearly 5 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with wind farms. This is almost equivalent to Denmark's total wind energy capacity. These PPAs only started in 2014 and mainly in the ICT sector to power data centres. But now energy-intensive industries are signing them. 2018 saw 1.5 GW of new PPA deals with wind farms.    more

AWEA Releases Model Legislation to Guide Consumer-Friendly Electrification
January 30, 2019
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) released model legislation recently designed to help states prepare for the consumer-driven electrification boom. The model legislation is based on findings in AWEA's new study, "A Shared Future: Electrification and Renewable Energy," also released on 1/24. The report offers insights to electricity providers, state legislators, and regulators as they develop electrification strategies, advocating for a comprehensive approach that includes electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure investment, renewable energy additions, and transmission expansion.    more