US Government strengthens investment in Renewable Energies

This request was carried out in the context of a programme that finances several American laboratories in the development of the national capacities regarding renewable energies, especially wind power.

The platform for wind power forecast that INESC Porto proposes to develop also includes a decision support methodology for network operators that will help reduce wind power production costs. The project started last December and will end in September 2010.

An unexpected lack of wind in the US can cause blackouts and this is one problem that many regions in the United States of America may face on the short and medium term as a consequence of the country’s growing dependence on renewable energies, particularly wind power.

Forecast can go up to three days

With this project, it will be possible to achieve more precise wind power forecasting in a timeline that can go up to three days. Errors in wind power predictions “can have more severe consequences in the USA than in any European country” due to the country’s temperate and subtropical climate and local geography, as was explained by Vladimiro Miranda, director of INESC Porto and coordinator of the project.

Vladimiro Miranda is an IEEE Fellow, the maximum degree awarded by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), a worldwide acknowledged science and electrical engineering institution.

It is expected that a precise wind forecasting in a certain location will have a considerable impact on the North-American electricity industry, thus allowing a reduction of wind power prices in the United States. Horizon Wind Energy, a company of the Portuguese EDP group with an increasingly larger presence in the US, was invited by ANL - Argonne National Laboratory – to contribute as an observer and supplier of real data.

15 years of experience

The presence of European experts in the project was a crucial element for the approval of ANL’s proposal. INESC Porto has an experience of more than 15 years in this area, having developed projects in Greek Islands, such as Crete, in the Azores, as well as other wind power generation projects in Europe. In Portugal, the project for a company consortium that includes Enernova of EDP Renováveis is almost concluded. The project, where INESC Porto played an important role, aimed at the constitution of a wind power dispatch centre.

The institute located in the city of Porto has also been a consultant for energy distribution companies in the Iberian Peninsula, such as REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais and REE – Red Eléctrica de España.  The aim was to determine the security of energy supply until 2025, taking the increasing penetration of wind power into consideration. More recently, INESC Porto has been cooperating with the Hungarian Energy Office for the definition of wind power penetration in that country.

Ciência Hoje, 3 February 2009