The environmental impacts of wind integration and comparison to conventional energy sources: Life cycle analysis of wind generation and transmission in Texas

Wind energy resources are typically located in remote areas that lack the presence of high voltage transmission lines. Additionally, the current US electricity infrastructure is not robust enough to support a large amount of new wind capacity. In order to successfully integrate wind power into the national energy grid, both generation systems (wind farms) and transmission systems must be constructed. In this thesis it is argued that the environmental impacts associated with the transmission systems needed to support wind integration are large enough that they must be considered when comparisons are drawn between new wind energy and the use of existing conventional energy sources.;A life cycle assessment model was used to estimate and analyze the environmental impacts associated with the integration of wind energy into the existing US infrastructure. The scope of this study focused on wind power integration in West Texas, and most data utilized were adapted to this geographical region. Data were modeled with the SimaPro life cycle assessment software by Pre Consultants.;Results of this study include the analysis of the environmental impacts for the individual wind integration components (generation and transmission), the wind integration system as a whole, and comparisons of wind integration to existing conventional energy sources. Within the wind generation system it was observed that most impacts were associated with the manufacturing of the materials used for the wind farm. Similarly, the majority of impacts within the transmission system were attributed to the manufacturing of the materials needed for the transmission lines. For both systems, the aluminum smelting process played a dominant role in the majority of impact categories considered.;Other results analyzed the wind integration system as a whole. It was discovered that as the number of miles of transmission grid increased, the environmental impacts associated with the transmission system quickly surpass those of the wind energy generation system. This indicates that for large lengths of wind supporting transmission infrastructure, the transmission system will play a significant role in wind integration's environmental impacts. Therefore, the argument that wind integration must be considered when drawing comparisons between wind power and conventional sources was justified.;Additionally, it was determined that after long lengths of additional transmission infrastructure, wind integration's global warming impacts were comparable to those created by the operation of coal fired power plants and natural gas power plants. By quantifying the point at which wind integration impacts are equivalent to the use of existing conventional sources, policy makers could determine whether or not it is actually environmentally beneficial to integrate wind energy with a large amount of needed transmission infrastructure as opposed to continuing the use of a conventional energy source.