The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has run smack into an issue that may be repeated elsewhere as wind power gains an increasing share of the electric power generation mix. BPA Administrator Steve Wright wrote in a landmark July decision that while the "explosion" of wind power on the BPA system since 2005 should be cheered and encouraged, his agency cannot responsibly ignore the fact that the large amount of wind on the system has also led to operational challenges. BPA said its own policy was at least partly to blame in aggravating the problem. Starting in 2002, BPA exempted wind operators from penalties targeted at scheduling inaccuracies. It created the exemption recognizing that wind is a variable resource not under the operator's control.
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