In Oregon, Wind Power Surges Disrupting Grid

cpm99352 writes "The Oregonian reports gusts of wind cause synchronized power surges, more than the transmission lines can handle. Windmill farms are ordered to fan their blades, despite tremendous demand for 'green' power from California."

Comments

Re:Store in a water tower

[fastest fascist]

But what kind of volumes of water do you need to store? Something tells me it could be quite a bit for the highest production peaks - or to get any meaningful amount of juice from the backflow anyway -, a mere tower might not be enough. Even if it were, you'd need to install new turbines for the water and a whole bunch of other infra. Probably not very cheap. This type of storage may well prove to be useful, but it's going to take some time to figure out the economics of it, how much storage is optimal, and who's actually going to pay for it.

Re:Much ado about nothing

[delt0r]

Also sizing the local grid based on a "max gust output" looks like a real good way to make wind a lot more expensive than it already is. Remember even in the best case you have MWs of generators working at below their rated output most of the time anyway. Dito with the local grid.