Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are rapidly growing across the United States. As they become cheaper and more abundant, they are disrupting the traditional utility model built around large, centralized power plants burning fossil fuels.
Distributed Energy Resources
One major shift is the rise of distributed energy resources located close to consumers:
- Rooftop Solar Panels: Families and businesses can install their own solar panels to generate electricity on-site.
- Community Solar Gardens: Utility customers can subscribe to nearby shared solar farms and consume that power.
- Small Wind Turbines: While less common, some properties have small wind turbines for supplemental power.
- Energy Storage Systems: Battery packs store surplus renewable energy to use when the sun isn’t shining, or wind dies down.
As these distributed resources multiply, they reduce the amount of electricity utilities must supply from distant power plants.
Adapting Utility Operations
To integrate distributed renewables, utilities must adapt their grid operations and infrastructure:
- Two-Way Power Flows: Instead of just delivering electricity one-way, the grid needs to handle excess power sent backwards from distributed sources.
- Smart Grid Upgrades: Deploying smart meters, sensors, automation, and IT systems enables better renewable energy integration and management.
- Demand Response Programs: Motivating customers to shift energy usage away from peak periods through incentives and pricing signals.
- Energy Storage Solutions: Utilities increasingly need large grid-scale battery systems to store surplus renewable energy.
Making these infrastructure and operational changes allows utilities to better manage the variability and intermittency of renewable power supplies.
Upgrading the Transmission System
To transport renewable power over long distances, major transmission line upgrades are required:
- High-Voltage DC Lines: HVDC transmission efficiently moves renewable electricity hundreds of miles with minimal losses.
- Grid Expansion: New power lines are needed to interconnect the best areas for solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy across states.
- Regional Grid Coordination: Closer coordination between utility territories and grid operators optimizes distribution of renewable resources.
A stronger, modernized transmission backbone enables excess renewable power to flow where needed most.
Impacts on Traditional Power Plants
As renewable energy gains traction, it creates challenges for conventional power sources:
- Reduced Operating Hours: With lower-cost renewable power prioritized, fossil fuel plants run fewer hours, cutting into revenues.
- Cycling and Ramping Issues: Having to rapidly ramp production up/down as renewable generation fluctuates causes mechanical wear and inefficiencies.
- Early Retirement: Older, less efficient, and costlier coal and nuclear plants are becoming uneconomical to continue operating.
Careful transition plans are needed to manage the displacement of traditional baseload power plants by variable renewable energy sources.
Emerging Energy Solutions
To enhance electricity system flexibility and resilience, the experts at Commonwealth say that new energy solutions are emerging:
- Microgrids: Localized networks of generation, storage and controls can disconnect from the grid during outages.
- Virtual Power Plants: Networks of distributed energy resources coordinated to provide grid services like capacity and demand response.
- Green Hydrogen Production: Surplus renewable electricity used to produce emissions-free hydrogen for energy storage and industrial uses.
- Vehicle-to-Grid Integration: Electric vehicle batteries have potential to provide energy storage and services back to the grid.
These innovative solutions allow renewable energy to provide even more reliability, resilience, and flexibility for future utility operations.
Conclusion
While challenging, integrating higher renewable energy penetration presents opportunities for utilities in terms of new services, technologies, and business models. The rapid growth of renewable energy is an opportunity for American utilities and infrastructure to modernize into a more decentralized, flexible and resilient electricity system. Embracing new technologies like energy storage, microgrids, and demand response will allow the grid to take full advantage of clean renewable power when it’s available. This will create a more sustainable, environmentally friendly electricity supply while increasing energy security and independence.
