Offshore Wind

Objective

Determine impacts of clean energy plans on grid reliability. Learning how to integrate high levels of renewable resources, such as offshore wind, into the power grid to support the demands of clean energy plans. Will the electric grid operate reliably?

Approach

We tasked a multidisciplinary team with performing an assessment on the reliability impacts of policy goals and detailed system performance studies to evaluate technological mitigations. The studies performed analyzed critical system parameters such as system inertia, frequency response, short-circuit current & strength, reactive power, and assessment of restoration services.

Results

Key takeaways include:

• Meeting clean energy plan goals would require 60% solar and wind penetration.
• When interconnected to neighboring utilities, the system would have sufficient inertia.
• When islanded, the system would require additional inertia to comply with NERC standards.