A Cost Benefit Analysis of Wind Power

Concern over global warming has led policy makers worldwide to accept the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As wind generation does not itself create any harmful emissions, policy makers often promote it as a means of reducing national emission levels while also meeting renewable obligations. In fact, wind generation has been the fastest growing form of renewable energy in Europe and the United States in the past decade. Like other forms of generation reliant on underlying weather conditions, wind generation output is variable, i.e. the output of these units depends upon weather conditions that cannot be controlled by the operator of the generator. As well as being variable, wind generation also faces a challenge of being relatively unpredictable. Since the underlying energy source cannot be directly controlled, the renewable generation is high when conditions are favourable and low when unfavourable. The function of power system operators is to supply electricity to customers in a reliable manner at a sustainable cost. This involves ensuring that the generation meets the demand at all times and that any short term gaps between load and generation are bridged quickly and precisely to maintain the integrity of the power system. Since the output of some renewable generators, in particular wind generation, cannot be actively controlled and is difficult to predict accurately, this balancing of generation and load can become more challenging as renewable pene-