SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL INTERACTIONS OF WIND AND SOLAR IN THE NEXT GENERATION UTILITY

The paper argues that the variability of renewable energy can be managed through optimized geographic dispersion and the cross-firming of wind and solar resources. By analyzing data from the MRO, SPP, and ERCOT regions, the study demonstrates that expanding the geographic scope of a renewable portfolio significantly reduces system variability and the frequency of zero-power production. It also finds that combining solar and wind resources further lowers variability compared to wind-only portfolios. The authors conclude that these strategies, combined with demand response, energy storage (such as xEVs), and smart grid communications, can reduce the reliance on conventional baseload power.

• Expanding the geographic area of a renewable portfolio across three reliability regions (MRO, SPP, and ERCOT) reduced system variability by 28% compared to the average individual region.
• Geographic diversification significantly reduces the amount of time a system produces no power; a portfolio spanning the three analyzed regions produced no power for only 6 hours in a year, compared to 16 hours for the best individual region (ERCOT) and 90 hours for the average individual region.
• Combining solar and wind resources further reduces variability; an optimized wind/solar portfolio showed 18% lower variability than an optimized wind-only portfolio.
• In an optimized portfolio for the expanded region's 'bin of greatest return', capacity was distributed with approximately 80% allocated to wind and 20% to solar.
• The length of the analysis period (one year versus three years) did not significantly impact the results for portfolio power output or variability, provided the single year used was typical.
• The 'next generation utility' concept proposes reducing reliance on baseload coal and nuclear power by integrating variable renewables with demand response, energy storage via plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (xEVs), and intelligent grid communications.

APA

Traube, J., Hansen, L., Palmintier, B., & Levine, J. (2008). SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL INTERACTIONS OF WIND AND SOLAR IN THE NEXT GENERATION UTILITY. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_Windpower-NGU-paper_fnl.pdf

Chicago

Traube, Joshua, Lena Hansen, Bryan Palmintier, and Jonah Levine. SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL INTERACTIONS OF WIND AND SOLAR IN THE NEXT GENERATION UTILITY. RMI, 2008. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_Windpower-NGU-paper_fnl.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Traube |first1=Joshua |last2=Hansen |first2=Lena |last3=Palmintier |first3=Bryan |last4=Levine |first4=Jonah |title=SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL INTERACTIONS OF WIND AND SOLAR IN THE NEXT GENERATION UTILITY |publisher=RMI |date=3 June 2008 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_Windpower-NGU-paper_fnl.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{traube2008spatial, author = {Traube, Joshua and Hansen, Lena and Palmintier, Bryan and Levine, Jonah}, title = {{SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL INTERACTIONS OF WIND AND SOLAR IN THE NEXT GENERATION UTILITY}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2008}, month = jun, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI_Windpower-NGU-paper_fnl.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }