Why are Midwest grid operators turning away wind power?

eia.gov

3 pointshwayne2 comments

tl;dr

1. Wind farms are producing more power than they can transmit out, so a lot of it is wasted

2. When electricity generation exceeds demand, wind and solar farms are the first to be turned off, because they're easier than nonrenewables to spin back up later.

On your #2 - I'd bet that the parts of the grid connecting to wind farms are only spec'ed and built to handle (say) 75% of the absolute maximum power which the wind farms could produce, during rare optimal-wind events. Otherwise, you're adding full-price/rare-used capacity.

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