I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more wind generation
The projected big winner in the Environmental Protection Agency’s pursuit of reduced carbon dioxide emissions by the power sector is wind generation.
The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, whose rules were unveiled Monday, is expected to trigger a boom in wind installations that could amount to a 63% increase in wind generation by the year 2020 over 2013 wind capacity totals, and an increase of 211% by 2030.
Like the music producer in the iconic “Saturday Night Live” skit, the EPA has come back and demanded an increase of something that’s been getting more attention anyway.
While coal-fired capacity is expected to decline 25% by 2020, natural-gas fired capacity is expected to increase just 4.2% over its 2013 capacity total by 2020. This means that wind, and other renewables, such as solar, also have room to grow.
The allure of wind generation as opposed to natural gas-fired generation is the fact that wind generation has zero carbon emissions. States will begin soon to draw-up emission reduction plans to meet EPA requirements, and the emphasis will be on finding the right generation portfolio mix that delivers reliability as well as emission reductions. It should be noted, of course, that reliability is sometimes a struggle for wind generation.
