Wind could expand from 1,275MW to 8GW with improvements to transmission and system balancing, according to the report by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO).
In 2018, 8GW of wind would provide over 10% of the state’s electricity needs, the study said.
On a nameplate basis, the 8GW exceeds 20% of New York’s expected load in 2018.
New York’s renewable portfolio standard requires 30% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2015.
Over 7GW of wind projects are in the NYISO interconnection queue. The study found that as the amount of installed wind increases, system variability also increases.
It found, however, that increasing wind to 8GW will not require more operating reserves to protect against a sudden and unexpected drop in generation.
But, the study said there are transmission obstacles, even to the less ambitious goal of 6GW of wind.
In that scenario, 8.8% of the potential wind energy in three areas in upstate New York is currently undeliverable because of transmission gridlock.
The study did not estimate the cost of balancing improvements.
An earlier study by NYISO found that 3300MW of wind could be integrated into the system.
