Hearing of the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the House Committee on Science and Technology - Real-Time Forecasting for Renewable Energy Development

Statement

The United States has tremendous potential to expand our use of renewable energy resources. According to a study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the accessible wind potential in just 12 states could power the entire country twice over. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab has also shown that if we took one percent of the total U.S. land area and covered just a quarter of it with currently available solar panels, we could meet all of our energy needs. In addition, the Electric Power Research Institute has found that we could more than double our electricity generation from water power just by harnessing our nation's ample marine and hydrokinetic energy resources.

But as we've often pointed out in this Committee -- and it is a stunning observation -- the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. Now, the intermittency of these sources could eventually be addressed through the widespread adoption of energy storage technologies such as batteries, fuel cells, and compressed air energy storage systems, and this Committee has passed significant legislation to accelerate the advancement of each of these options.

Right now, electric grid managers throughout the country are doing their best to integrate and balance several gigawatts of wind with baseload power options on an hour-by-hour and even minute-by-minute basis. To ensure a steady flow of electricity to their consumers, these managers rely on forecasts of power production, which take into account weather information provided by NOAA as well as energy technology research carried out by DOE or the private sector.

Recent studies led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have shown that improving the accuracy and frequency of these forecasts can have a major impact on the economic viability of renewable energy resources. I look forward to learning more from this excellent panel of witnesses on how we should best be addressing this important issue. With that I yield to our distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Inglis

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