Transforming Ontario’s Electricity Paradigm: Lessons Arising from Wind Power Integration

In the following keynote address to Professional Engineers of Ontario, Annual General Meeting, May 9, 2009, Tom Adams outlines the challenges ahead for integrating renewable energy into the Ontario power grid. Data is presented showing how wind power production and electricity usage are out of sync, how winter wind power output is concentrated on the warmer winter …

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WIND POWER IN ONTARIO: QUANTIFYING THE BENEFITS OF GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY

Using Ontario wind power production data, this study quantifies the benefits of positioning wind farms in geographically diverse locations to mitigate variability and smooth wind power’s contribution to electricity generation. Wind farm outputs are cross-correlated and graphed against the distances separating the farms. Results confirm that correlations between wind farm outputs decay with distance, but …

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