pluginaustin

Plug-In Hybrids and Wind Power

EV World
Monday, 23 May 2005
Edition 5.22

A couple years ago, I met a man who had tried to perfect a wind-powered car. The idea was to use the aerodynamic forces of the wind to help propel the car down the road. Anyone who has sailed can appreciate how this might work, especially when running on a reach perpendicular to the direction of the wind, which produces the fastest speed through the water.

Not surprisingly, the idea died with the wind.

But the idea of a wind-powered car isn't as far-fetched as you might think. Not long ago, Lester Brown endorsed the idea of plug-in hybrids charged by electricity generated from wind farms, a notion seconded by Roger Duncan at Austin Energy in an EV World interview not long ago. It turns out they may be on to something.

In doing some research into wind power over the weekend, I revisited an old browser bookmark I'd made sometime back on wind power in America. Digging a bit deeper into the 2003 study by Stanford University's Mark Jacobson and Cristina Archer, I discovered that when they looked at four-hour time blocks for wind power production on eight separate wind farms that were theoretically networked together, not only did the frequency of unproductive, low-speed winds decrease but more importantly, the maximum power output for the hypothetical network turned out to be between 8-11 PM and 12-3 AM.

Now most utilities have plenty of spare, off-peak capacity in the middle of the night, so adding more power from wind farms might seem counterproductive. But let's assume that some day in the future there are millions of plug-in hybrids -- both ICE and fuel cell-driven -- parked out there in owner garages that need recharging overnight.

Rather than having to add spare generating capacity in the future to recharge all those cars and trucks once overnight load demand began to strain the system, wind farms could be brought quickly online in a matter of just months, rather than the years it now takes to permit and build fossil fuel or nuclear power plants. And best of all, the Jacobson/Archer study suggests that wind power and plug-in hybrids may share a very symbiotic relationship, especially when those plug-ins have vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities.

posted by AE @ 4:04 PM