Why is the intermittency of wind an important issue?
The electrical grid must continuously balance supply and demand to keep the “pressure” (i.e., voltage) in the system constant. As demand draws off more power, supply must be increased. As demand slows, the supply must be decreased. Because wind turbines respond to the wind rather than the grid dispatchers, it must be treated like variable demand rather than reliable supply. The grid has to adjust supply in response to the fluctuations of wind power as well as those of demand.
