“当风不吹或太阳不亮时会发生什么?”

对于想要了解电网运营商如何整合可再生能源的人，这是一个很常见的问题。

幸运的是，一些专家每天全天开灯，发现这些灯能够很好地处理大量风能和太阳能。

电网运营商总是能够平衡好供给和需求。工厂，空调，电气等根据每天的开关时间和季节不而变化。

大型煤、天然气和核电站也会意外地崩塌，突然间从系统中清除大量重要的电力。

同时，横跨美国41个州的53000个有效用规模的风力发电机相对稳定。基于天气预报，变化比较慢且可预测，并且较大的变化已被需求和其他供应抵消。

通常情况下，对风电运营商来说，解决突然损失的大型常规风力发电机难题是非常昂贵的，因为这需要非常快速的备份资源。

发生在2014年的极涡天气事件就是一个主要例子。严寒和煤气供应的短缺迫使许多传统发电厂突然关闭。与此同时，高需求的家庭供暖供给、天然气价格和电力价格飞涨。然而，风力涡轮机仍然可以可靠地发电，在两天内给五大湖周边地区和和大西洋中部地区的消费者节省了超过10亿美元。

美国的风力发电足够供应2500万个家庭。因此，公用事业和电网运营商已经有了充分的时机来解决风电整合问题。

Xcel科罗拉多能源平衡权威机构已经运行并消耗了20%的可再生能源。2016年德克萨斯州的ERCOT公司也从风电中获得了15%的电力。西南电力系统(SPP)，其电网系统已横跨美国14个州，生产的风电量占全年用电量的20%，曾在今年年初达到54%的高峰。PJM是中国最大的电网运营商，近日发现可用风电达到了75%。

“十年前我们认为达到25%的风电占有率是非常有挑战性的，并且这可能对能源的可利用性构成严重威胁，” SPP 的运营副总裁Bruce Rew说到。“现在我们有能力管理超过50%的电力。它甚至还没有达到最高水平。”

一直到2020年，风力发电将继续为美国提供10%的电力，提高电网的多样性，安全性和可利用性。全天保持灯亮的工作人员已经了解了风的工作原理，并且协助确保了国家的电网安全。风 为所有美国人效力。

原文如下：

Grid reliability, security and diversity: Another way wind works for America

“What happens when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine?”

That’s a common question from those wanting to understand how grid operators integrate renewable energy.

Fortunately, the experts who keep the lights on every day find they can reliably handle large amounts of wind and solar energy.

Grid operators have always balanced major shifts in supply and demand. Factories, air conditioners and appliances turn on and off in waves, varying by time of day and season. Major spikes occur from events as simple as halftime during a football game, when millions of refrigerator doors open.

Large coal, gas, and nuclear power plants can also break down unexpectedly, suddenly removing significant amounts of electricity from the system.

Meanwhile, spread across 41 states, the output of America’s 53,000 utility-scale wind turbines stays relatively constant. Changes are slow and predictable based on weather forecasting, and are mostly canceled out by far greater variations in demand and other supply.

It’s generally more expensive for grid operators to accommodate the abrupt loss of a large conventional generator, because that requires keeping fast-acting backup resources “spinning” 24/7.

A prime example occurred during 2014’s Polar Vortex weather event. The bitter cold and loss of gas supply forced many conventional power plants to shut down abruptly. At the same time, high demand for home heating sent natural gas prices and electricity prices skyrocketing. However, wind turbines kept reliably generating electricity, saving Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic consumers over $1 billion in two days.

The U.S. has enough installed wind power to supply the equivalent of 25 million homes. So utilities and grid operators have already had ample opportunity to figure out how to integrate wind energy.

Xcel Energy’s Colorado Balancing Authority already runs on 20 percent renewable energy. ERCOT in Texas got 15 percent of its electricity from wind in 2016. The Southwest Power Pool (SPP), grid manager across parts of 14 states, is nearing 20 percent wind year-round — and just peaked at 54 percent wind earlier this year. PJM, the country’s largest grid operator,recently found it could handle over 75 percent wind power reliably.

http://www.awea.org/1Q2017MarketReportRelease

“Ten years ago we thought hitting even a 25 percent wind-penetration level would be extremely challenging, and any more than that would pose serious threats to reliability,” said Bruce Rew, SPP’s vice president of operations. “Now we have the ability to reliably manage greater than 50 percent. It’s not even our ceiling.”

Wind power remains on track to supply 10 percent of U.S. electricity by 2020, adding diversity, security and reliability to our electric grid. The men and women keeping our lights on already know wind works, and by helping ensure the country’s grid stays secure, wind works for all Americans.