On April 20, 2011, the MIT Energy Initiative held a symposium on Managing Large-Scale Penetration of Intermittent Renewables. The focus of the symposium was on how renewable energy standards affect power system capacity planning and operations, assuming affordable, scalable electricity storage options will not be available for at least a decade, and probably more. Until such breakthroughs materialize, capacity planning and implementation are still required. As countries increasingly embrace intermittent renewable resources, they will confront the operational challenges this poses for baseload power generation and generators. The results of the symposium, including commissioned white papers and other submitted technical papers, are available here. In this briefing, held on March 12, 2012, the following symposium participants outlined the key findings.

Purpose of Report/Introductions - Melanie Kenderdine, Executive Director, MITEI

Operational/Economic Impacts of Thermal Cycling

Coal Plants - Howard Herzog, Senior Research Engineer, MITEI

Gas/Nuclear Plants - Ernie Moniz, Director, MITEI

Impacts of Renewable Integration on Grid/Systems Operations - Ignacio Perez-Arriaga, Visiting Professor, MIT

Review of Theses Topics Generated from Symposium - Michael Hagerty, Engineering Systems Division

Policy and Regulatory Issues - John Deutch, Institute Professor, MIT