A regional team of energy experts this week announced the region's existing power system can most likely handle the 6,000 megawatts of wind energy anticipated to come online by 2024.

Representatives from regional utilities, state energy departments, renewable energy industry groups and research labs collaborated on the Northwest Wind Integration Action Plan, a six-month long study of how to best integrate the region's growing supply of wind energy into the existing power system. The study looked at the transmission requirements and costs associated with wind integration.

Fluctuating natural gas prices as well as renewable energy and climate policy developments at the federal, state and local levels is driving the growth of wind energy, experts agree. Nearly 1,400 megawatts (MW) of wind generation is currently connected to the Northwest electricity grid. Over the next three years, as much as 2,400 MW of wind power is expected to come online in the region.

Washington's Renewable Portfolio Standard requires that 15 percent of the state's energy comes from renewable energy by 2020, while Oregon's Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) is proposing a standard that would require the state's utilities to supply 25 percent of their energy from renewables by 2025.

The wind integration study concluded that while wind energy is a viable renewable energy source for the region, wind power plants don't provide a constant energy supply. Therefore, conventional back-up power supplies such as hydroelectric dams are also needed to meet the region's growing energy demand. The report includes 16 action items, most of which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007.