Wind Power and the Smart Grid

Electric power companies complain about wind power because it’s intermittent: if suddenly the wind stops, they have to bring in other sources of power.

This is no big deal if we only use a little wind. Across the US, wind now supplies 4% of electric power; even in Germany it’s just 8%. The problem starts if we use a lot of wind. If we’re not careful, we’ll need big fossil-fuel-powered electric plants when the wind stops. And these need to be turned on, ready to pick up the slack at a moment’s...