SW-NCA-color-FINALweb

Energy: Supply, Demand, and Impacts 255Figure 12.7 Power plantspotentially at risk to a 100-year flood with 1.4-m (4.6-ft)sea-level rise. Reproducedfrom Sathaye et al. (2012).Climate impacts on renewable source intensityTo estimate the potential impacts of climate change on renewable sources of energy,spatial details are needed on how the electricity system would evolve. For example, ifclimate change causes shifts in wind regimes, areas now suitable for wind farms maybe less suitable in the future and new areas may become an attractive option for windenergy development. Few studies, however, have been published on this topic for theSouthwest.Wind power. Some research suggests that wind speeds in the United States as awhole are declining, based on the 50th and the 90th percentile wind speeds from 1973 to2005 (Pryor et al. 2009; Pryor and Ledolter 2010). However, for the Southwest region nosignificant changes in wind speeds are reported (Pryor and Ledolter 2010). vii