Valuation of Distributed Wind in an Isolated System

Abstract

Remote communities are increasingly adopting renewable energy, such as wind, as they transition away from diesel energy generation. It is important to understand the benefits and costs of wind energy to isolated systems so that decision-makers can optimize their choices in these communities. There are few examples of valuation of wind energy as a distributed resource and numerous differences in valuation approaches, especially in the inclusion of environmental and economic impacts. We apply a distributed wind valuation framework to calculate the benefits and costs of wind in St. Mary’s, Alaska, to the local electric cooperative and to society, finding that the project does not have a favorable benefit-to-cost ratio unless societal benefits are included, in which case the benefit-to-cost ratio is nearly double. Government funding is important to reducing the initial capital expenditures of this wind project and will likely be the case for projects with similar characteristics. Additional fuel savings benefits are potentially possible for this project through technological additions such as energy storage and advanced controls.

MicroGrid Renewable Integration Dispatch and Sizing (MiGRIDS) Analysis of Spinning and Regulating Reserve Options for Wind in an Alaskan Diesel Microgrid

“…As with most other remote microgrids, diesel generators (DG) have historically been the main sources of power. In January 2019, a 900 kW wind turbine generator (WTG) was installed in St. Mary's, providing enough power to potentially allow up to 100% power penetration for significant portions of the year [2]. However, WTG generation needs to be covered with spinning reserve capacity (SRC) and regulating reserves.…”