Wind resource quality affected by high levels of renewables
Abstract
For solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind resources, the capacity factor is an important parameter describing the quality of the resource. As the share of variable renewable resources (such as PV and wind) on the electric system is increasing, so does curtailment (and the fraction of time when it cannot be avoided). At high levels of renewable generation, curtailments effectively change the practical measure of resource quality from capacity factor to the incremental capacity factor. The latter accounts only for generation during hours of no curtailment and is directly connected with the marginal capital cost of renewable generators for a given level of renewable generation during the year. The Western U.S. wind generation is analyzed hourly for a system with 75% of annual generation from wind, and it is found that the value for the system of resources with equal capacity factors can vary by a factor of 2, which highlights the importance of using the incremental capacity factor instead. Finally, the effect is expected to be more pronounced in smaller geographic areas (or when transmission limitations imposed) and less pronounced at lower levels of renewable energy in the system with less curtailment.
- Authors:
-
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1220676
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-6A20-63649
Journal ID: ISSN 2079-9276
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Resources
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2079-9276
- Publisher:
- MDPI
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; renewable energy; curtailment; capacity factor
Citation Formats
Diakov, Victor. Wind resource quality affected by high levels of renewables. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.3390/resources4020378.
Diakov, Victor. Wind resource quality affected by high levels of renewables. United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources4020378
Diakov, Victor. 2015.
"Wind resource quality affected by high levels of renewables". United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources4020378. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1220676.
@article{osti_1220676,
title = {Wind resource quality affected by high levels of renewables},
author = {Diakov, Victor},
abstractNote = {For solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind resources, the capacity factor is an important parameter describing the quality of the resource. As the share of variable renewable resources (such as PV and wind) on the electric system is increasing, so does curtailment (and the fraction of time when it cannot be avoided). At high levels of renewable generation, curtailments effectively change the practical measure of resource quality from capacity factor to the incremental capacity factor. The latter accounts only for generation during hours of no curtailment and is directly connected with the marginal capital cost of renewable generators for a given level of renewable generation during the year. The Western U.S. wind generation is analyzed hourly for a system with 75% of annual generation from wind, and it is found that the value for the system of resources with equal capacity factors can vary by a factor of 2, which highlights the importance of using the incremental capacity factor instead. Finally, the effect is expected to be more pronounced in smaller geographic areas (or when transmission limitations imposed) and less pronounced at lower levels of renewable energy in the system with less curtailment.},
doi = {10.3390/resources4020378},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1220676},
journal = {Resources},
issn = {2079-9276},
number = 2,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Curtailment in a Highly Renewable Power System and Its Effect on Capacity Factors
journal, June 2016
- Kies, Alexander; Schyska, Bruno; von Bremen, Lueder
- Energies, Vol. 9, Issue 7