Climate change could boost wind power in Texas

How will climate change affect wind and solar power? By 2050 wind power is likely to fall across the central US and increase in the east. Meanwhile, solar power looks set to decline in California but increase across the southeast US. A new study investigates how Texas, currently the US state with greatest installed wind and solar capacity, will cope as climate change kicks in. Michael Craig from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and colleagues used five global climate models to investigate the change in potential wind and solar energy for the state of Texas by 2050 under RCP8.5 – the most severe climate change scenario. The researchers used these figures in a unit commitment and economic dispatch model (UCED) to assess how the changes will affect power system operations.