Report: Wind power, sun may weaken grid

WASHINGTON — Adding electricity from the wind and the sun could increase the frequency of blackouts and reduce the reliability of the nation's electrical grid, an industry report says.

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. says in a report being released today that unless appropriate measures are taken to improve transmission of electricity, rules reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by utilities could impair the reliability of the power grid.

The corporation is the industry body authorized by the federal government to enforce reliability rules for the interlocking system of power generation and transmission.

Rules in many states

Such carbon-reduction rules are in place in 27 states and four Canadian provinces, and new ones could be mandated nationally in both countries.

They may force changes in the utility industry, the group said, including the shutdown of coal plants near load centers, and the substitution of power from wind turbines or solar plants in remote areas.

These actions would impose new demands on a transmission system that was never designed for large power transfers over extremely long distances.

The group also said the carbon-emission rules could increase reliance on natural gas, making power generation vulnerable to supply disruptions.

Carbon-emission initiatives are the "No. 1 emerging issue" for the grid, according to Rick Sergel, president and chief executive of the Princeton, N.J.-based group. Renewable energy can form a larger portion of electricity supplies without reducing reliability, Sergel said, but not without investments in transmission.

The overhauled electric system that has emerged in the past two decades already has inadequate transmission capacity, he said. Independent power producers have built generating stations that compete in a geographically vast marketplace to serve distant consumers.

"The transmission system is being used closer to its limits more of the time than at any time in the past," Sergel said.

The report was based on information from 50 utilities, power generators and other electric-system participants.

"Collision course"

It quotes Kenneth Farmer, executive director of the Beauregard Electric Cooperative, of DeRidder, La., saying, "It appears that greenhouse-gas issues and electric-utility reliability are on a collision course."

The report calls for construction of new power lines, which has become more difficult in some regions because of the diminished clout of utilities and the growing strength of preservationists trying to protect rural areas.

Building new lines to reach distant areas with great potential for power generation will take a new approach to planning, the report said.