Where's the wind?

This is a bit off topic but I was struck by an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. (Article is behind a pay firewall.)

In short, it's about wind energy which I think has great possibilities. Lo and behold, power companies that use wind energy are faced with a problem those of us who sail have known forever -- it's hard to predict when it will be windy.

A cold front blew through West Texas on Feb. 26, temporarily lifting wind production. When it subsided, wind speeds dropped, turbines slowed and productivity dropped by 80% to 300 megawatts from about 1,700.

The situation was exacerbated by greater-than-expected energy demand and by lower availability of some fossil-fuel units. To get the system back in balance, the grid operator declared an emergency and tapped big customers who had agreed to be cut in exchange for cash payments.

The problem "showed us we need much better wind forecasting tools," said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system operations at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a quasipublic, nonprofit corporation that operates most of the state's high-voltage transmission system.

It's good to know there are others who face this same problem although it's probably a more important problem for power companies than it is for sailors.