Intermittency of wind: the wider picture

Abstract

This paper puts the discussion on intermittency of wind into its wider context: in the first part, it reviews the natural variability of all resources that power renewable energy technologies. This highlights how intermittency of wind influences the degree of variability relative to other renewable energy technologies, but does not change its kind. In the second part, management options for intermittency on electricity grids are outlined, from both a technological and a policy standpoint and some conclusions on the question of potential limits to market penetration of renewables are given.