Integrating Intermittent and Renewable Power Resources into the Hydropower System of the Pacific Northwest

摘要

This report discusses the extent to which hydropower could be used to 'smooth' and back up intermittent and unreliable power sources, including solar water heaters, solar irrigation pumps, and wind-generation turbines. The amounts of power involved in each are developed, and economic evaluations are given. Because the volumes of power are potentially relatively large and because the economics of wind turbines are potentially competitive, the bulk of the work focuses on these units. The tool of analysis is a 51-reservoir, 56-time-period computer simulation model of the hydropower system in the Snake and Columbia Rivers and tributaries.