The Western U.S. has Some of America’s Strongest Clean Energy Goals. It Needs More Grid Flexibility to Achieve Them
Source: Eric Gimon | FORBES
California wind farm construction site – AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION
Western states like California, Colorado, and Nevada have enacted some of the country’s most ambitious climate laws, with at least five aiming for more than 50% clean energy within the decade.
This quilt of climate goals targets 33% and 64% clean energy across the region by 2026 and 2035, according to research prepared for the Western Interstate Energy Board, which finds the West could meet or exceed these targets – but only by boosting electric grid flexibility.
The Western Flexibility Assessment (WFA) conducted by Energy Strategies highlights grid flexibility requirements for a future where large amounts of renewable energy are deployed as states accelerate electricity sector decarbonization. For example, New Mexico would rise from 20% renewables today to 50% in 2030; Colorado would go from 30% to 60%.
So how can policymakers act now to achieve these targets in the future—and is the grid ready for such a big change?
Grid flexibility could push clean energy to 69% of Western U.S. power supply in 2035
While the West is positioned to achieve its near term clean energy targets, flexibility needs will increase over time, according to the study. If the region fails to implement flexibility-boosting solutions, the authors conclude “the West may lack sufficient grid flexibility to achieve state energy goals.”
“The grid” covers physical assets like power plants and transmission lines, as well as the processes for trading energy and regulating consumption, and both must be flexible enough to accommodate more variable generation from wind and solar energy.
But if policymakers across the Western U.S. add grid flexibility via better market coordination, new transmission capacity, load management, and energy storage, among other measures, it could increase clean energy’s penetration across the West to 69% in 2035.
Western Flexibility Assessment Assumed Renewable Portfolio Standards/Clean Energy Targets State – ENERGY STRATEGIES
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