The Value of Geographic Diversity of Wind and Solar: Stochastic Geometry Approach

The variability of wind and solar power is perceived as a major obstacle in employing otherwise abundant renewable energy resources. Based on the available geographically dispersed data for the WECC U.S. area (excluding Alaska) and eastern U.S., we analyze the extent to which the geographic diversity of these resources can offset their variability. The set of wind and PV sites that best matches the load with no transmission limitations is determined. For a case with 50% of the load met by wind and solar resources with no curtailments, a geometric model provides a convenient measure for resource variability, and shows the synergy between wind and solar. NOTATION Gt – dispatchable generation from conventional sources at hour t lt – hourly load (electricity consumption) Pj – fraction of the maximum potential built capacity at the PV site j pjt – the input generation that could be produced at hour t by the PV resource at site j WECC Western Electric Coordinating Council; here we consider only the continental U.S. territory, excluding Alaska Wi – fraction of the maximum potential built capacity at the wind site i wit – the input generation that could be produced at hour t by the wind resource at site