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BPA braces for strong spring runoff, excess power and wind power cuts
It's springtime in the Northwest ...Occasionally, it means more hydro and wind electricity is pulsing into the grid than anyone can use.
That's a major problem for wind farm owners ...when BPA can suddenly shut down their output to prevent "over-generation." The cutoffs can mean millions of dollars in lost revenue, and put a cloud over further wind development in the Northwest.
April 7, 2012
by Ted Sickinger
in The Oregonian
From a hushed control center tucked into a building in Portland's Pearl District, Kit Blair and dispatchers at Iberdrola Renewables captain a fleet of 3,000 wind turbines spread over 17 states.
Laid out before them on a wall of flat panel displays is the performance of every Iberdrola turbine component in the United States.
A few keystrokes can bring up a real time schematic of an individual turbine's gear box in Texas, feather every blade at a wind farm in upstate New York, or still Iberdrola's entire fleet on the Columbia Plateau.
Across the river in Northeast Portland, Blair's... [continue via Web link]
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