Ambitious plans for wind power threaten existing grid

If development plans for wind powerplants prove to be realistic, the total output of such a network will exceed 7,500 MegaWatts over the next few years. The Polish Power Grid (PSE) warns, however, that the national grid would be unable to manage such a load. According to Julia Stroganova, director of the wind energy project at MVV Polska, the total output of all wind powerplants presently amounts to only 31 MegaWatts. "This is the best proof that there is no threat of rapid development in this energy sector," she said. "Permission to join the network has already been granted for powerplants with a total output of 872 MegaWatts. PSE has received applications for another 2,629 MegaWatts and proposals for a further 3,990 MegaWatts are under consideration. We receive inquiries from investors and local government representatives," said Jozef Sieniuc, PSE's deputy president for technical matters. PSE president Stanislaw Dobrzanski added that the cost of connecting all the planned wind powerplants would be several billion zloty and that this would force an increase in electricity prices. He went on to say that it would also lead to difficulties for conventional powerplants which would have to maintain reserves of almost 100% in case of unfavorable weather conditions. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) M.M.