http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/pt/2017/02/spp-sets-north-american-record-for-wind-power.html
[Who else remembers when the North American utility companies said that
putting more than 10% intermittent renewables generation on the grid
would crash it? Hmmm, maybe not so much, really. And reliable,
affordable grid-scale storage - now available off the shelf - is an
enormous game-changer.]
SPP Sets North American Record for Wind Power
February 14, 2017
Southwest Power Pool set a wind-penetration record of *52.1 percent* at
4:30 a.m., Feb. 12, becoming the first regional transmission
organization (RTO) in North America to serve more than 50 percent of its
load at a given time with wind energy. The milestone beats a previous
North American RTO record of 49.2 percent that SPP set April 24, 2016.
From the article: “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,” SPP Vice President of
Operations Bruce Rew said. “Since then, we’ve gained experience and
implemented new policies and procedures. Now we have the ability to
reliably manage greater than 50 percent wind penetration. It’s not even
our ceiling. We continue to study even higher levels of renewable,
variable generation as part of our plans to maintain a reliable and
economic grid of the future.”
