Variability in wind energy on interannual and decadal scales and its influence on hydrogen energy storage

Abstract

Forecasting future wind electricity generation requires diverse methods and tools to estimate potential output at specific locations. This study utilizes historical meteorological data and simple models at particular sites, along with past electricity production records from selected wind farms. The interannual and decadal oscillations of wind energy production at the grid level are computed. The large-scale, long-term energy storage needed to achieve dispatchable electricity, addressing generation variability is assessed. For the continental United States, the estimated storage requirement is approximately 1300 GWh per GW of installed capacity. The inclusion of solar power generation and the round-trip efficiency of energy storage positively or negatively impact this estimation.