Impact of wind turbines on grid operation are minor, says EPRI
PALO ALTO, California, US, 2004-06-30 (Refocus Weekly)
Wind generation facilities would have a relatively modest impact on electricity grid operations, according to a recent study by the U.S. Utility Wind Interest Group.
The total incremental impact of 280 MW of wind turbines in the Xcel
Energy-North service area near Minneapolis, Minnesota on the 8,000 MW utility
system is US$1.85 per MWh, or 6% of electricity cost at $30/MWh, says the
Electric Power Research Institute in the report, ‘Characterizing the Impacts
of Significant Wind Generation Facilities on Bulk Power System Operations
Planning.’
The two impacts on the total cost are $1.436/MWh from the wind energy forecast
error in day-ahead scheduling and $0.41/MWh for intra-hour load following energy
component. Two other factors involving additional load following reserves would
have a negligible cost impact, it notes.
The high growth rate in wind energy likely will “concentrate large blocks of
wind generation in inland, coastal and offshore windy areas,” and “this
concentration will create situations where wind penetration (its contribution to
total installed capacity and energy generation) is sufficient to affect grid
operations and the cost of load following, voltage and frequency regulation, and
other ancillary services,” it explains. This is of particular concern for
remote grids that are not interconnected to other systems and to those with
insufficient transmission capacity to carry wind power during high-wind periods.
“Utilities and system operators are actively evaluating the operating and cost
impacts of existing and anticipated wind capacity and high-wind penetration on
electricity systems in the U.S. and worldwide,” and the project's methodology
and results “will be useful when evaluating the operating impacts of wind
generation at other locations.”
The objective was to characterize the impacts of significant wind generation
facilities on bulk power system operations planning, and the results are very
specific to the Xcel system as it existed in 2002. It is difficult to model all
operational scheduling and real-time operation procedures, but “it is likely
that the cost impact will increase non-linearly with increasing wind
penetration, especially for island and other non-interconnected grid systems and
those that are transmission-constrained,” it adds.
The report recommends additional studies to increase understanding of wind
operating impacts and to evaluate the sensitivity of impacts to the level of
wind penetration.
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