POWER July 2013 - 63

ELECTRIC POWER 2013: FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY
2. Wide swings in demand with renewables. By 2020, added renewable resources
will create enormous demand for fast-ramping generation in CAISO. Source: CAISO
Load
46,000
44,000
42,000
40,000
38,000
36,000
34,000
32,000
30,000
28,000
26,000
24,000
22,000
20,000
Net load
8,000 MW
in 2 hours
Wind
Solar
6,300 MW
in 2 hours
13,500 MW
in 2 hours
10,000
9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
Net load = load-wind-solar
0:00 1:30 3:00 4:30 6:00 7:30 9:00 10:30 12:00 13:30 15:00 16:30 18:00 19:30 21:00 22:30 0:00
generation, especially solar, is creating
the potential for large swings in demand
throughout the day.
He showed the session a slide illustrating
projections for 2020 that suggested swings
of up to 13,500 MW were possible as solar
capacity comes on and off the grid during the
day (Figure 2). Combined with traditional
less-flexible resources, the region may be facing
potential over-generation conditions. All
this means a strong demand for fast-ramping
capacity and frequency response.
Asked what might be necessary to better
incentivize construction of fast, flexible gas
plants, the panelists had varying answers.
Sotkiewicz said, bluntly, " Nothing,
other than the gas-electric coordination
issue. " A system the size of PJM, he said,
has enough diversity and market incentives
in place. But size does matter, he
noted, since larger regions have better
ability to balance loads.
The lurking problem is coordinating gas
supplies. Right now, Sotkiewicz said, " each
interstate pipeline acts as its own ISO. "
For areas of western Pennsylvania and eastern
Ohio, said Frederick, " It's more of an issue
of how do we get all of that gas out of the area,
because we have more than we need. "
The panelists also noted that, no matter
what is generating the power, the transmission
assets need to be in place to move
it. There, plenty of challenges remain.
As Sotkiewicz noted, " Wouldn't it be nice
if we had something like FERC for transmission
like we have with pipelines? " ■
-Thomas W. Overton, JD is POWER's gas
technology editor.
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July 2013 | POWER
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63
Load & net load (MW)
Wind & solar (MW)

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POWER July 2013

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