HIGH-CAPACITY FACTOR WIND ENERGY-SYSTEMS

Wind-generated electricity can be fundamentally transformed from an in termittent resource to a baseload power supply. For the case of long d istance transmission of wind electricity this change can be achieved a t a negligible increase or even a decrease in the per unit cost of ele ctricity. The economic and technical feasibility of this process can b e illustrated by studying the example of a wind farm located in centra l Kansas and a 2000 km, 2000 megawatt transmission line to southern Ca lifornia. Such a system can have a capacity factor of 60 percent, with no economic penalty and without storage. With compressed air energy s torage (CAES) (and with a negligible economic penalty), capacity facto rs of 70-95 percent can be achieved. This strategy has important impli cations for the development of wind energy throughout the world since good wind resources are usually located far from major demand centers.