The value of windpower: An investigation using a qualified production cost model

THE VALUE OF WINDPOWER: AN INVESTIGATION USING A QUALIFIED PRODUCTION COST MODEL Michael R. Milligan & Alan H. Miller National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden, CO 80401 As a part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, we are using the Environmental Defense Fund's Electric Utility Financial & Production Cost Model (Elfin) as a tool to determine the value of wind energy to specific utilities. The cases we have developed exercise a number of options in the way in which wind energy is treated: (1) as a load modifer (negative load), (2) as a quick-start supply-side resource with hourly varying output, and (3) probabilistically, using time-varying Weibull distributions. By using two wind speed distributions, two different wind turbines, and two different utilities, we show what the wind turbine cosUkW might be that results in a positive value of wind energy for these utilities.