Energy market analyst Bentek Energy said the results of their latest study show that reductions of carbon dioxide emissions from the wind energy sector were either minimal or too expensive to be practical.
According to “The Wind Power Paradox,” state and federal programs in the United States that support wind generation with a goal of substantially reducing pollution had instead led to slight or no emissions savings while leading to increased costs for utilities and ratepayers.
The study’s result also showed that when power plants on a regional power grid are “cycled” to accept wind energy, the plants run less efficiently, leading to significant emissions and higher plant maintenance costs.
The study concludes that equal or greater emissions reductions could be achieved at lower cost and greater reliability by replacing existing coal-fired power generation with natural gas.
The group’s president Porter Bennett said that Bentek Energy had made use of actual hourly wind generation and emissions data to test the hypothesis that wind energy was an effective tool to control carbon dioxide and other air emissions.
The group said that they were the first to systematically assess the emission reduction performance of wind generation based on the two data.
“Policy makers should take note: the actual emissions data over a three-year period refutes these claims. This report requires reassessment of wind as an emission control strategy,” Mr. Bennett said.
The study consisted of more than 300,000 data points, including actual wind, coal and gas generation and emissions data during the past three years. All emissions data were taken directly from the Environmental Protection Agency, while wind generation data comes from plants in four regional power areas across the United States.
The modeling used in the study examined the interaction among wind, coal and natural gas-fired generation within each region and the resulting changes in emissions in response to wind generation.
Status of U.S.’s wind energy sector
The American Wind Energy Association said that the country’s wind industry could have a strong comeback this year after suffering big drops in project numbers last year.
United States wind energy entered 2011 with over 5.6 gigawatts worth of projects currently under construction, this according to the group’s annual report.
From 35.6 GW in 2009, the U.S.’s overall installed wind capacity reached 40.2 GW last year, enough to supply electricity for over 10 million homes. The wind energy had also provided 26 percent of all new electric generating capacity in the United States last year.
However, based on AWEA’s past annual reports, the figure is a drop from 39 percent in 2009 and over 40 percent in 2008. The slowed performance was blamed on unstable and short-term policies that affect the setup of wind projects in the country.
