This post provides data current to June 30, 2010 on the productivity and variability of output of Ontario’s wind farms. The tendency of more productive wind farms to produce power with greater annual variability of output is observed. An error in the data reported in the April 6, 2010 edition of the report with respect …
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Wind farms in Ontario larger than 20 MW operated at an hourly capacity factor as low as 0.18% during the record breaking hot weather of May 26, 2010. The lowest point of production occurred during the hour starting at 10 am (EDST) when load was rising rapidly towards its peak. Although wind output hit a …
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In April 2008, the IESO undertook an operability review of the 2007 IPSP issued by the OPA. The major conclusion of the review was, “The IESO has assessed the operability of the IPSP and concluded that it provides sufficient flexibility to meet future system needs.” ref: www.ieso.ca/imoweb/pubs/ircp/IESO-Operability_Review_of_IPSP.pdf One of the key documents the IESO relied …
Continue reading ‘Major Cracks Confirmed in IPSP Operability Assessment’ »
Many people debating greenhouse gas controls think they know that coal is our worst electricity source with respect to carbon dioxide emissions and that natural gas is about half as bad. Although replacing coal power with gas-fired power seems like an environmental winner, this simplistic generalization is often wrong. Eliminating coal-fired electricity will require replacing …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading ‘WIND POWER IN ONTARIO: QUANTIFYING THE BENEFITS OF GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY’ »