The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announced last week that March 26 saw a new wind power record: 10,296 MW at 8:48 PM. This represented close to 29% of the nearly 36,000 MW of electricity on the power grid at that moment, and smashed the record set only weeks ago by 600 MW. No issues concerning integration were reported. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the 10,296 MW is the most for any U.S. power system to date. (The following day, 9,868 MW of wind generation achieved a record 38.43 percent of the 25,677 MW systemwide demand at 3:19 a.m.)
1,433 MW of the wind resource came from turbines on the Gulf Coast, while 8,863 MW came from other regions, mostly West Texas. That area of the state is dotted with wind farms, in the specially designated Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, which are linked by approximately 18,000 MW of transmission to facilitate wind integration.
Related articles
