UWIG Announces 2008 Honorees for Achievements in Wind Integration

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) announced today that Dale Osborn of the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (Midwest ISO), John Kehler of the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), Paul Smith of EirGrid, the independent transmission system operator in Ireland, Leslie Bryans from NIE (the Transmission Owner for Northern Ireland) and Mark O’Malley of University College Dublin, will be honored as recipients of its Annual Achievement Award.

UWIG President Henry Durrwachter will present the award to Osborn, Kehler, Smith, Bryans, and O’Malley at a reception during its 2008 Spring Technical Workshop and Annual Meeting held April 17-18 in Fort Worth, Tex.

The citation for the award to Osborn highlights the work and leadership he and Midwest ISO have demonstrated in developing new methods for transmission planning for the Midwest incorporating large amounts of wind energy. The methodology moving forward incorporates economic-based planning for energy resources as opposed to traditional reliability-based capacity planning. The citation notes that the results of this work are being implemented into the Midwest ISO Transmission Expansion Plan and are being shared at numerous electric power and wind industry forums.

The citation for the award to Kehler highlights his leadership and work with AESO in addressing the challenges of integrating wind into the Alberta electricity market. Facing concerns with how to reliably integrate wind generation into the system, Alberta implemented a temporary threshold of 900 MW on wind development until appropriate mitigation measures and associated costs could be determined. Then the AESO, working with stakeholders, developed a clear set of rules to guide participation of wind generators in the market. This coupled with work moving forward on a wind forecasting pilot project to assist system operators in dealing with the variable nature of wind generation, enabled lifting of the market cap and moving forward on integrating an ever increasing amount of wind into the Alberta power system.

The citations for the awards for Smith, Bryans, and O’Malley highlight their leadership and work on the Irish All-Island Grid Study for Renewables Integration. The study, for which the three honorees served on the working group, explored the technical and economic limits to increasing penetrations of renewable energy, and found a feasible scenario of up to 42 percent renewable energy penetration, most of which was wind, on a weak island system. The working group conducted extensive peer review of the work, which used groundbreaking analysis methods in undertaking the generation and network expansion planning and unit commitment work. The study represents a significant, joint-coordinated effort between the Irish and Northern Ireland governments, which operate an integrated electrical system and electricity market.

According to UWIG President Durrwachter, the slate of honorees for 2008 reflect the key areas UWIG has identified as critical for successfully integrating wind into electric power systems: “Effective transmission planning and expansion, effective and well-operated electricity markets, incorporation of wind forecasting into system operations, and sound economic and engineering analysis of the current and projected impacts of wind generation have been found by UWIG as essential to making wind work on electric power systems. Dale Osborn, John Kehler, Paul Smith, Leslie Bryans, and Mark O’Malley have made significant contributions to the electric power and wind industries in these areas ands are to be commended for advancing the integration of wind generation. As President of UWIG, it gives me great pleasure to announce these awards and to congratulate them.”

The Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) was established in 1989 to provide a forum for the critical analysis of wind technology for utility applications and to serve as a source of credible information on the status of wind technology and deployment. The group’s mission is to accelerate the development and application of good engineering and operational practices supporting the appropriate integration of wind power for utility applications through the coordinated efforts and actions of its members, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, its National Renewable Energy Laboratory and utility research organizations. UWIG currently has over 120 members from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, including investor-owned, public power, and rural electric cooperative utilities; transmission system operators; and associate member corporate, government, and academic organizations.