Renewables
The Nine Canyon Wind Project, capable of generating up to 48 megawatts, is the largest publicly owned wind project in the country. It provides, on average, enough electric power to supply over 10,000 households!
Renewable energy sources are expected to play a key role in the transition to a future carbon-free energy supply. This deep dive will focus on developing a better quantitative understanding of the potential role of renewable energy over the next decades, particularly when deployed at the large scale that will be necessary to affect the future global energy system. Since electricity generated by wind is fast becoming one of the most utilized renewable energy sources, wind energy has been chosen as the initial focus of this deep dive. This effort will include a focus on better characterizing wind energy technologies at the macro level to enable more accurate modeling of the contribution of wind energy (and other renewables) to future regional energy supplies within a global energy system. As with other technology representations in the PNNL integrated assessment framework, the aim is to represent the relevant physical (and financial) processes so that the role of renewables and their interactions with the broader energy system can be accurately represented. A quantitative analysis of the potential role of selected renewable technologies, as they compete with other elements of the energy system, will be conducted within this deep dive.