One of the major hurdles facing renewable energy is connecting the energy generated to the grid. The electrical grid across the United States is largely considered well past due for reorganization in order to better incorporate renewables and to make it more efficient overall. The grid also has difficulty in adapting to the fluctuations of renewable energy as it is not a consistent source, such as coal would be.
When renewable energy is generated it depends upon the time of day, weather and other factors, as to how much energy is generated. For solar energy more energy is generated in full sun rather than cloudy weather, wind energy is generated at higher levels when the wind is consistent rather than when it is a calm day. These fluctuations can be a strain on the traditional electrical system in the country, with the energy needed to be balanced in order to keep things up and running smoothly.
According to researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Lab, electric vehicles may assist in reducing the strain on the grid. The states in the Northwest United States, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, are expected to install 10 gigawatts of energy through wind by the year 2019. However, adding this much wind energy is expected to strain the electrical grid, which may be strained by the ups and downs of wind generation.
The balancing act required for utilizing the wind energy may be assisted by electrical vehicles. These vehicles would be able to charge and use the extra energy generated by the wind farms. In order to actually reduce overall strain on a system with this much wind generation in place, 2.1 million electric vehicles would be required. This would mean thirteen percent of the total vehicles currently used in these states would need to be transitioned to electric, a task that seems unlikely at this point in time.
The Pacific Northwest National Lab determined the number of vehicles needed to transition to electrical by studying the driving habits of 37,000 people in the Northwest. In order for the electrical vehicles to work appropriately to reduce grid strain, the charging of the vehicles would need to be performed at differing charging rates depending upon the electricity being generated at the time of charging. Such technology is considered Grid Friendly and would be an important aspect of the Lab’s findings.
