With the exception of some developable wind resource areas in the eastern United States, the wind generation facilities usually interconnect with relatively weak regions of the bulk power networks. With the size of individual wind generation projects growing, this creates difficulties both for designing an appropriate interconnection and in securing transmission capacity to move energy to load centers. The availability of good models and characterizations of wind plant operations are key to analyzing and understanding both of these issues........it should be recognized that the issues confronting transmission providers and wind generation developers are not unique to North America. Organizations around the globe are making substantial investments to move the power industry up the learning curve in this area. In some countries, further growth of the wind industry is contingent upon settling questions related to wind generation impacts on the power system and the availability of appropriate analytical tools and models for making these assessments.....As of the date of this publication, it is clear that the final discussions of interconnection requirements and standards for bulk wind generation are yet to come and may actually be some years into the future. As the previous discussion shows, there is still no consensus on certain technical performance requirements among the various jurisdictional bodies that hold sway on process and reliability requirements for the power industry in the United States.
Editor's Note: This article highlights accurately the critical importance of developing, in light of wind energy's intermittancy, robust interconnection requirements and standards for bulk wind generation to ensure grid stability. While these technical challenges will undoubtedly be met over time, the article does not address the overall cost/benefit equation particularly given wind energy's negligible value as a source of base load capacity.

This amendment was offered as a substitute for Subtitle D of the Rahall energy bill H.R. 2337 regarding wind energy.

Michael S. McCann CRA was one of about 20 invited reviewers to provide comments to Ben Hoen, Ryan Wiser et.al. in reference to the LBNL study which evaluated wind farm impacts on residential property values. Mr. McCann's comments on the preliminary and final releases of the LBNL study can be accessed by selecting the links at the bottom of this page. An excerpt of Mr. McCann's comments is shown below taken from his most recent comments to Hoen/Wiser on the final study report released in December 2009. Windaction.org wishes to thank Mr. McCann for permitting us to post his documents here.

Economist Robert J. Michaels from California State University provided this testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Energy and Environment Subcommittee in reference to renewable energy policy. Dr. Michaels expresses doubts that wind energy will have much of an impact on displacing fossil fuels, or that government subsidies for the wind industry will create jobs. A summary of his testimony is provided below. His full testimony can be accessed by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of the page.

The implementation of consistent statewide standards to achieve the timely and cost-effective installation of small wind energy systems is a matter of statewide concern. It is the intent of the Legislature that this section apply to all local agencies, including, but not limited to, towns, cities and counties.

Editor's Note: This small wind zoning statute, drafted by Paul Gay (Westport, MA) is currently in joint committee in the MA state legislature. The author describes himself as a proponent of small wind with an interest in promoting regulations that are drafted in such a way as to insure a properly functioning system while protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public.

This paper explains how wind turbines located near radar installations can significantly interfere with a radar’s ability to detect its intended targets. The authors explain software tools capable of calculating the radar cross section of electrically large objects. In this paper, interference from wind turbines is predicted using XGtd simulations and new post-processing algorithms that calculate Doppler shift quantities based on points of interaction with the rotating turbine blades.