Variability and Cost Implications of Wind and Solar Energy Integration
Open Access
- Author:
- Richardson, Kelsey Anne
- Area of Honors:
- Energy, Business, and Finance
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Seth Adam Blumsack, Thesis Supervisor
Seth Adam Blumsack, Thesis Supervisor
Andrew Nathan Kleit, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- emissions
Oklahoma
integration
solar energy
wind energy - Abstract:
- Wind and solar energies have the potential to act as main sources of power in the next generation of energy technology. With their seemingly endless resources and virtually zero emissions, these renewable sources are attractive to energy providers and electricity system operators. This study focuses on wind and solar data collected from a site in western Oklahoma to analyze the cost and variability of utilizing wind and combined wind and solar energy within the electricity grid. The data is analyzed on different time scales, compared with regional demand, modeled with a natural gas fill-in turbine, and evaluated for production cost and emissions reductions on both the wind and integrated wind and solar levels. The cost analysis found that wind energy with gas back-up has a lower levelized cost of energy than using gas energy alone, resulting in production savings. A study of the emissions shows an increase in NOx levels, but the decrease in CO2 levels makes up for the cost of extra NOx emissions credits, resulting in overall emissions cost savings. However, as solar energy was added to the grid, the levelized cost of energy for combined wind and solar with gas back-up became more than double the cost of gas alone. The resulting overall costs were not alleviated by minimal savings from even lower CO2 emissions. The variability of integrated wind and solar energy compared to just wind was originally hypothesized to decline. However, due to the volatility of wind and solar peaks combined, the variance of power output increased with the addition of solar energy. The final results indicate that solar energy is not a feasible addition to the electricity grid at this time, given the high capital costs of a solar project. However, the study suggests that wind energy may be a beneficial supplement to the grid, with its low levelized cost of energy and lowered CO2 emissions.