Stanford Study: Wind Farms "Energetically Sustainable"

April 16, 2014- Researchers have determined that, when the energetic cost of building grid-scale storage technologies is taken into account, wind farms have an advantage over solar in producing sustainable electricity.

In a recent news item,"Wind Farms Can Provide A Surplus Of Reliable Clean Energy To Society," Stanford.edu reports that Stanford University researchers have determined that the wind industry can easily afford the energetic cost of building batteries and other grid-scale storage technologies. "However, for the solar industry … more work is needed to make grid-scale storage energetically sustainable."


Here are some of the highlights from the Stanford.edu post:

• Utilities find themselves challenged in finding new energy storage and delivery systems. Building wind turbines and batteries for the energy grid takes a lot of energy, but the Stanford researchers have determined that the global wind industry produces enough power to easily afford the costs for grid-scale storage.



• Demand for sustainable solar and wind power is skyrocketing. Stanford.edu reports that global solar photovoltaic installations have increased nearly 40 percent a year on average since 2009. Wind turbine capacity has doubled on average over the same timeframe.

• Because wind and solar energy are only generated when it's windy or sunny, the dramatic growth of these industries has led to development and testing of large-scale storage technologies so power delivery continues apace when sunlight and wind are in short supply.

• The Stanford researchers looked at the "energetic cost" of battery manufacturing and other storage technologies for an answer to the question: Do renewable energy supplies produce enough energy to fuel their own growth and the growth of necessary energy storage systems?

• "Whenever you build a new technology, you have to invest a large amount of energy up front," says Michael Dale, a research associate at Stanford. "Studies show that wind turbines and solar photovoltaic installations now produce more energy than they consume," he says, adding, "The question is, how much additional grid-scale storage can the wind and solar industries afford and still remain net energy providers to the electrical grid?"

  
• Dale and his colleagues estimate the wind industry can easily afford enough storage to provide three days of uninterrupted power. For the solar industry, the figure is 24 hours of energy storage, principally because it takes more energy to manufacture solar panels over wind turbines.



Study co-author Sally Benson concluded, "The solar industry needs to continue to reduce the amount of energy it needs to build photovoltaic modules before it can afford as much storage as wind can today."

Read the full Stanford.edu post here.

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