Wind Farms in Eastern Australia — Recent Lessons

Paul Miskelly

Energy & Environment, 2012, vol. 23, issue 8, 1233-1260

Abstract: Academic discussion continues as to whether a fleet of grid-connected wind farms, widely dispersed across a single grid network, can provide a reliable electricity supply. One opinion is that wide geographical dispersion of wind farms provides sufficient smoothing of the intermittent and highly variable output of individual wind farms enabling the wind farm fleet to provide for base load demand. In an examination of the 5-minute time-averaged wind farm operational data for 21 large wind farms connected to the eastern Australian grid - geographically the largest, most widely dispersed, single interconnected grid in the world (AER, [1]) - this paper challenges that opinion. The findings also suggest that the connection of such a wind farm fleet, even one that is widely dispersed, poses significant security and reliability concerns to the eastern Australian grid. These findings have similar implications for the impact of wind farms on the security of electricity grids worldwide.

Keywords: Wind; Electricity; Intermittency; Geographic Dispersion; Smoothing; Grid Security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:engenv:v:23:y:2012:i:8:p:1233-1260

DOI: 10.1260/0958-305X.23.8.1233

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