To avoid an energy crisis in America, new research from the nonpartisan think-tank Energy Innovation credits states like South Dakota and Iowa for generating roughly 60% of their electricity from wind farms, without compromising reliability. However, with demand soaring, the report suggests not all stakeholders are on the same page to ensure there’s enough power to go around.
Sara Baldwin is the senior director for electrification for Energy Innovation. She said this comes at a time when utility companies and government agencies are trying to rely on more carbon-free sources to keep emissions in check and produce better prices for ratepayers.
Baldwin said renewable energy sources such as wind and solar have been proven to be reliable, but it’ll take more than those to meet future demand. She said policymakers need to remove barriers that make it hard to plug clean energy into the grid.
The batteries she mentioned are storage sites for electricity generated from renewables when the sun isn’t shining, or the wind isn’t blowing. The report said that the storage should be spread out among various locations, as opposed to being at a centralized power plant. It also said these approaches help the electrical grid withstand extreme weather conditions amid heightened demand, without having to lean on carbon-intensive sources that conflict with emission-reduction goals.
Some of the broader rhetoric about energy production might make it seem as though renewables are “fringe” electricity sources, but Baldwin says that’s not the case.
Researchers say there should be incentives for management strategies that complement renewables, such as consumers adjusting their energy use during peak times. They do acknowledge that it might be hard to motivate enough people to sign on and they hope policymakers aren’t tempted to pursue options such as building new gas plants to cover short-term needs.
Story courtesy of the Greater Dakota News Service.
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