In the space of one hour last month, electricity generated at wind farms in the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge shot up by 1,000 megawatts - enough to power some 680,000 homes. Less than an hour later, it plummeted almost as much.
Sitting in front of 10 computer screens in a fifth-floor room of the federal Bonneville Power Administration headquarters in Portland, Kim Randolph had to react quickly. Working from a keyboard, she diverted millions of gallons of water away from massive turbines spinning in Columbia River dams and sent it around the dams.
The 17-year veteran power operations specialist remembers how fast she needed to work as a wind storm caused generation to peak and fall three times over eight hours. "You have to get it in hand and get it in hand very quickly," she said.
Getting it in hand is a balancing act. It means balancing the power generated by 31 dams, a nuclear power plant and now wind farms in order to send a stable flow of power into the BPA's 15,238-mile grid across the Pacific Northwest.
It also means balancing the grid's needs against those of fish and commercial river traffic on the Columbia River. Getting power from wind, which can vary greatly, is complicating that balancing act. In coping with the variations, the BPA has at times adjusted flows through dams at rates that exceeded guidelines established to protect fish.
"It is stressful. You have the threat of fish issues on one hand you are trying to prevent, and at the same time you're trying to meet load," she said. The events of June 4 and 5 highlight the challenge facing the agency, utilities and wind generators across the region as wind farms sprout at a dizzying pace, much faster than anyone had anticipated.
From a humble start at 25 megawatts in 1998, wind generating capacity on the BPA grid galloped to 2,105 megawatts as of May this year, doubling in just the last 21 months. It's enough energy to power two cities the size of Seattle. And there's more to come. Wind power on the Bonneville system could reach 6,000 megawatts within four years, according to agency estimates.
But the marriage of wind and water has begun to strain the system. Fish need flowing water. Holding water behind dams when there's plenty of wind power reduces that flow and harms fish. But sending enough water around the dam - not through the turbines - for fish reduces the ability to generate power that will be needed when the wind dies off.
By 2011, the agency estimates the system will run out of the capacity to adjust enough to accommodate for the variations of wind power. As a result, the BPA, a nonprofit federal power-marketing agency, is accelerating plans for change, including: building more capacity, flexibility and quicker response times; implementing better forecasting tools; and sharing the responsibility for moving power within and outside the region.
"This issue is absolutely forcing greater coordination and collaboration among the region's utilities than just about any issue since putting in the hydro dams," said Elliott Manzier, Bonneville's senior vice president for corporate strategy. "The issue is much bigger than BPA. It is a Northwest issue."
More:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_balancing_wind.html
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