AWS Truepower and Duke Energy Collaborate on Carolinas Offshore Wind Integration Case Study

The Carolinas Offshore Wind
Integration Case Study will assess viable wind deployment sites, evaluate the
impact of development of three different amounts of installed offshore wind
generation capacity, evaluate the effect of various
collection and interconnection technologies and methods, and assess the
operational impacts to Duke Energy Carolinas electric power system. The results
of this study will provide utility planners, industry participants, and policy
makers with new information to make informed decisions related to offshore wind
development. For key stakeholders, such as utility planners, the information
will help with system additions and operational changes needed to accommodate development.
Industry participants will review cost, timing, preparations and suitability of
specific sites for offshore wind development, and policy makers will receive
detailed information about the costs and system impacts of offshore wind.

“Our goal is to fully
understand how the abundant wind resource off the coast of the Carolinas – and
North Carolina, in particular – can help reshape our long-term energy outlook,”
said Duke Energy Vice President Christopher Fallon. “We’ve assembled a project
team with tremendous expertise and talent, and we look forward to sharing the
results of our study with interested parties in the Carolinas and throughout
the country.”

AWS Truepower’s primary role is
to create wind generation profiles for hypothetical offshore wind farms.  This will be accomplished through the firm’s
proprietary site selection algorithm which selects likely locations for
offshore wind farm development and simulates the potential project build
out.  The selection process will build on
work previously performed by UNC.  The
firm’s numerical weather prediction models will then be used to simulate
multiple years of wind and weather profiles which will be converted into energy
output profiles at each simulated offshore site. 

"AWS Truepower is pleased to bring
our proprietary 200-meter offshore wind maps and numerical weather prediction
models  into practice for the Carolinas
Study,” stated Ken Pennock, Forecasting Business Manager at AWS
Truepower. “As a leader
in renewable data simulation and evaluation, we have over a decade of
experience developing and employing high-resolution models to provide essential
information for myriad stakeholders charged with planning and integrating large
quantities of renewable energy into the grid.”  

The study will help quantify the likely impact to consumers from
necessary operational changes and system upgrades to integrate offshore wind energy.
It also provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate how offshore wind can
enable a region with relatively poor onshore resources, like the Carolinas,
meet their renewable portfolio standards (RPS).