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Solar and Wind energy are more convenient together
According to a study by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory PV and wind integration would be able to compete with fossil fuel plants.
An American study affirms that wind and solar integration with connection to the electric grid would cut down on infrastructural costs and, in particular, on harmful carbon emissions.
This study, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), contradicts the common idea of renewable energies systems, introducing high quantities of emissions in the environment during load balancing processes.
Actually, according to “The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study – phase2” report, if solar and wind would be integrated, they would be able to compete with fossil fuel plants. Carbon, sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide produced by these systems would be reduced of 5% thanks to wind systems and of 2% thanks to solar systems.
Although these reductions are made possible by single wind and solar systems, the bigger the renewable energy systems are and higher will be the reduction percentage of harmful emissions. As an example, if a large American electric grid as the Western Interconnection would produce 33% of electric energy from solar, it would reduce CO2, sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide emissions from 5% to 10% more than current data show.
On this topic, NREL Project Manager Debra Lew affirms: "Adding wind and solar to the grid greatly reduces the amount of fossil fuel — and associated emissions — that would have been burned to provide power. Our high wind and solar scenarios, in which one-fourth of the energy in the entire western grid would come from these sources, reduced the carbon footprint of the western grid by about one-third.”
In the end, although the study highlights an increase in operative costs because of wind and solar systems’ integration, the, even economical, derived advantages make them irrelevant.
This study, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), contradicts the common idea of renewable energies systems, introducing high quantities of emissions in the environment during load balancing processes.
Actually, according to “The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study – phase2” report, if solar and wind would be integrated, they would be able to compete with fossil fuel plants. Carbon, sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide produced by these systems would be reduced of 5% thanks to wind systems and of 2% thanks to solar systems.
Although these reductions are made possible by single wind and solar systems, the bigger the renewable energy systems are and higher will be the reduction percentage of harmful emissions. As an example, if a large American electric grid as the Western Interconnection would produce 33% of electric energy from solar, it would reduce CO2, sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide emissions from 5% to 10% more than current data show.
On this topic, NREL Project Manager Debra Lew affirms: "Adding wind and solar to the grid greatly reduces the amount of fossil fuel — and associated emissions — that would have been burned to provide power. Our high wind and solar scenarios, in which one-fourth of the energy in the entire western grid would come from these sources, reduced the carbon footprint of the western grid by about one-third.”
In the end, although the study highlights an increase in operative costs because of wind and solar systems’ integration, the, even economical, derived advantages make them irrelevant.
