Potential challenges of integrating large-scale wind energy into the power grid-A review

Abstract

Global warming is attracting a growing interest worldwide for the generation of large-scale energy from renewable energy sources as it is free from greenhouse gas emissions. Wind energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources due to its availability and low cost and due to the fact that it is more efficient and advanced in technology. Hence, harvesting of large-scale wind energy is of prime interest today. However, large-scale integration of wind energy sources creates environmental, economic, social and technical impacts that need to be investigated and mitigated as part of developing a sustainable power system for the future. Government, utilities and research communities are working together to increase penetration of wind energy into the power grid and overcome potential barriers associated with this. This paper presents an extensive and useful survey on wind energy technology and associated implementation issues including effects of wind farms on the nearby locality. This paper also reviews the social, environmental and cost-economic impacts of installing large-scale wind energy plants. Finally, potential technical challenges to the integration of large-scale wind energy into the power grid are reviewed in regard to current research with their available mitigation techniques. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.