November was a good month for the wind industry in the US. The chart below shows the high penetration of wind on specific days (see http://www.aweablog.org/output-records-and-nerc-report-show-increasing-r...).
Look at these statistics:
- In Texas wind supplied over 40% of electricity in the ERCOT grid for 17 hours in a row (http://www.aweablog.org/output-records-galore-texas-does-it-again/)
- "Between mid-September and mid-November, Xcel’s Colorado power system had 20 hours in which over 60 percent of its demand was met with wind generation, and 100 hours in which wind served over 50 percent of demand."
- "Xcel Colorado has noted that in some hours it uses wind plants’ advanced controls to keep system frequency stable. ERCOT requires wind plants to provide the full range of grid reliability services. All of the large grid operators discussed above now fully integrate wind energy into their electricity markets, with wind governed by the same rules as other energy sources."
Wind is therefore reliable source of power that can be successfully integrated with high levels of penetration.
