When intermittent power production serves transient loads

Renewable power generation exhibits notorious intermittence. The power load varies daily and also seasonally. The topic of renewable generation, storage and grid interfacing is complex in that it brings into one setting many diverse interests and technologies. Our long-term goal is to help define ways to profitably increase renewable generation. In this paper, we focus on normal day for a grid operator, PJM, (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland). The variability of wind and (and assumed) solar outputs require a certain capability for load following or storage. Using dynamic modelling, we estimate the variability of the wind output and we simulate a projected solar penetration of 3% of new capacity. To save for eventual use every unit of energy thus generated, a storage system must have the capability to levelize the supply of renewable power. The capacity requirements for storage and generation of such a system are mapped out in 1 min intervals, and are used to define the capacities and ramp rates for a hypothetical pumped storage plant. Knowledge of weather patterns may be helpful to plan dispatch and storage of renewable energy. The results of a brief excursion into the difficult topic of weather patterns are recorded here too.