Companies in search of more renewable energy to power their growth can take heart from the example of Texas. The Lone Star State relies most heavily on natural gas and coal to generate electricity. It also has a fairly healthy nuclear sector. However, wind power has already leapfrogged past nuclear in Texas, and coal could be the next domino to fall. A new study indicates that the right balance of wind and solar power could provide for a reliable grid, without having to depend on expensive energy storage systems.
The New Texas Renewable Energy Study
The new study comes from Rice University under the title, “Assessing solar and wind complementarity in Texas.” The study was performed by undergraduate student Joanna Slusarewicz and Rice professor Daniel Cohan, an environmental engineer.
In a press release, Slusarewicz explained the goal of the project:
. . . batteries remain too expensive to store Texas-sized amounts of energy for later use. “I did this project to see if there is a way, before we even start building more wind and solar farms, to distribute their current output to take advantage of differences in climate throughout the state,” Slusarewicz said.
Cohan added:
…Only in the past couple of years has solar become competitive with wind. Now Texas has two strong renewable options. That’s why this is the time to look at integrating these sources so they can do better than either can do on its own.
The point about energy storage is a critical one. The market for small scale, on-site energy storage is growing rapidly, but utility scale systems are still a long way from commercial viability due to their expense.
Currently, pumped hydro is the only large scale, low cost storage system available in the U.S., and appropriate sites for those facilities are few and far between.
Complementarity and grid stability
“Complementarity” refers to balancing the output of solar and wind power facilities.
Because wind and solar rely on natural conditions, the peak performance of wind turbines and solar panels varies considerably over time. The output can be optimal at different times of day, in different seasons, and in different regions of the same state.
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