Estimated performance of solar PV and wind turbine systems compared to coincident electrical demand in Minnesota

Conference · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:109871

Artig, R ^[1]

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1. Minnesota Dept. of Public Service, St. Paul, MN (United States)

The Minnesota Department of Public Service (department), with the cooperation of Northern States Power (NSP) and US Department of Energy, is making a detailed study of wind and solar resources in the Buffalo Ridge area of southwestern Minnesota. The purpose of the study is to determine the viability of using a combination of wind and solar generation facilities to help meet electrical demand in the region. Through the Solar/Wind Study, five monitoring sites have been established to collect solar radiation and temperature data as well as to record wind speed and direction information at multiple elevations. In this paper, the data from the first year of the Solar/Wind Study are used to directly compare the projected hourly production of electricity from the wind and solar resources to hourly electrical demand. This study compares the potential electrical production from these renewable resources concurrent with peak or near peak occurrences in electrical demand. The electrical demand information used in this study is from two utilities: NSP, a utility that supplies electricity to a combination of urban residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and Cooperative Power (CP), which provides power primarily to suburban and rural residential customers. Estimates of the performance of solar PV systems were made using PVFORM, a simulation program from Sandia National Laboratories. Analysis of first year data indicates that the availability of electricity generated from a combination of solar and wind resources matches period of high peak demand for Northern States Power. The value of adding wind and solar generated electricity to the utility`s resource mix merits further investigation. The match between solar and wind power availability and Cooperative Power`s peak demand period is not apparent, but here, too, further study is needed.

• OSTI ID: 109871
• Report Number(s): CONF-950725--; ISBN 0-89553-167-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
17 WIND ENERGY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
MINNESOTA
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS
POWER DEMAND
POWER GENERATION
WIND POWER PLANTS