Consumer,

No such luck, just another unemployed and over-educated engineer. Still available for hire by Dr. Chu, in case the U.S. DOE wants a renewable energy system with some cojones. I'm no fan of wimped out when it comes to renewable development.

As to transmission issues, we really don't have to worry given the 1.5% wind penetration of the US grid - that is a concern, in general, once you get above 20%. Denmark and parts of Northern Germany range between 25% to 100% (depends on how windy it is).

Access to the grid is much easier administratively with a Feed-In Law - renewable generation gets preference. And connecting more grids together makes for a more robust arrangement, where wind tends towards baseline power production - lack of wind in one spot gets made up for by a lot of wind somewhere else.

As higher levels of grid penetration occur, more use of HVDC, and pumped hydro systems will be needed. More jobs, more infrastructure, more economic development. And costs gets paid by all customers of the grid(s).

Nb41

Production based subsidies (PTC in the US, FIT in Europe) are very effective, there's no doubt about it. Still, I also support mandatory renewable energy targets per state or region, since that will supply an additional incentive for co-operating and investing in transmission (especially for regions with lower renewable resources, since importing renewable electricity will be economically optimal, promoting increased grid interconnections with other areas).