Alternatives No More: Wind and Solar Power Are Mainstays of a Clean, Reliable, Affordable Grid

Abstract

Wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, no longer alternative energy sources, have grown rapidly in the United States and worldwide during the last decade. This rapid growth is due to significantly improved technology (power electronics, controls, and physical attributes such as tower heights and blades), plummeting costs, and vast advancements in understanding how to plan and operate reliable regional power systems that have high penetrations of variable renewable resources. Wind and PVs have become mainstays of a clean, reliable, affordable electric grid.