Intermittent Renewables in the Next Generation Utility

The research demonstrates that geographically distributing wind farms reduces the variability of power output and drastically decreases the frequency of zero-production periods compared to individual sites. Using 2004 data from the U.S. Midwest and Texas, the analysis shows that optimizing portfolios based on negative covariance between sites improves capacity credit and system reliability. The authors argue that this approach, combined with demand-side resources like plug-in vehicles and real-time load response, is essential for the transition to a next-generation utility capable of integrating significantly higher levels of intermittent renewables.

• Geographically distributing wind resources provides a significant advantage in reducing system variability, most notably by drastically reducing the amount of time the system has zero power production.
• In an optimized portfolio of five Texas sites, the probability of zero energy production was reduced to 0.03 percent (approximately three hours per year), whereas individual sites experienced between 40 and 89 days of zero production.
• The degree of variability reduction is higher in regions with greater diversity in wind regimes and terrain, such as Texas, compared to regions with more uniform topography like Kansas, where winds exhibit positive covariation.
• Expanding the geographic scope to a reliability region, such as the Midwest Reliability Organization (MRO) comprising Minnesota and North Dakota, further reduces time spent at zero power production and full capacity, facilitating easier grid integration.
• The 'next generation utility' concept integrates supply- and demand-side resources—including vehicle-to-grid storage, real-time load response, and tri-generation—to manage the variability of intermittent renewables more effectively than traditional utility models.

APA

Hansen, L., & Levine, J. (2008). Intermittent Renewables in the Next Generation Utility. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_PowerGen_090924.pdf

Chicago

Hansen, Lena, and Jonah Levine. Intermittent Renewables in the Next Generation Utility. RMI, 2008. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_PowerGen_090924.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hansen |first1=Lena |last2=Levine |first2=Jonah |title=Intermittent Renewables in the Next Generation Utility |publisher=RMI |date=2008 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_PowerGen_090924.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hansen2008intermittent, author = {Hansen, Lena and Levine, Jonah}, title = {{Intermittent Renewables in the Next Generation Utility}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2008}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_PowerGen_090924.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }