Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Sunday 2nd August 2020 – Plus Weekly Update

By Anton Lang ~

This Post details the daily wind power generation data for the AEMO coverage area in Australia. For the background information, refer to the Introductory Post at this link.

Each image is shown here at a smaller size to fit on the page alongside the data for that day. If you click on each image, it will open on a new page and at a larger size so you can better see the detail.

Note also that on some days, there will be a scale change for the main wind power image, and that even though images may look similar in shape for the power generation black line on the graph when compared to other days, that scale (the total power shown on the left hand vertical axis) has been changed to show the graph at a larger size to better fit the image for that graph.

Sunday 2nd August 2020

Total Wind Power Generation

This image shows the total power generated across the whole day by every wind plant in this vast AEMO coverage area for Australia.

The total Nameplate for all these wind plants changes as each new wind plant comes on line delivering power to the grid. That current Nameplate is 7728MW, and this is from the current total of 64 wind plants.

Note that the shape of this wind power load curve does not follow the shape of the main load curve for total power generation, and that is seen in the image below, the solid black line across the top of the image for that graph. Wind power generates its power only when the wind is blowing, hence it does not follow the actual power generation Load Curve, which is also the the exact same shaped curve as for actual power consumption.

For this data, I have added the times for the daily minimum, and the daily maximum, to show how they do not correlate with the actual times of minimum power consumption (around 4AM each day) and maximum power consumption, the evening Peak. (at around 6.40PM in Winter and earlier during the Summer Months.)

Daily Minimum – 575MW (4.35PM)

Daily Maximum – 1980MW (12.25AM)

Average Wind Generation – 1038MW

Total Generated Power – 24.91GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 2.6%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 779MW of 27100MW – 6.35PM – 2.87%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 4.6%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 13.43%

Wind Power Generation Versus Total Power Generation

This image shows the total power generated from all the wind plants in this AEMO coverage area, and compares it to the overall total generated power from every source of power generation, which is the black line at the top of the graph. Wind power is the green coloured area, along the bottom of this graph.

While the green colour in this image looks to be a different shape to the graph above, keep in mind here that the scale is completely different, and that green coloured Wind total is the same as for the image shown above, only with the scale changed so it can fit onto the graph.

Notes

1. Finding Wind Power Average – On the graph, there are 25 hourly time points, starting with midnight and finishing with midnight. I have added the total at each of those hourly time points together, and divided the resultant total by 25 to give an average in MegaWatts. (MW)
2. For total power in GWH, multiply the average daily power by 24, and then divide by 1000.
3. For the Capacity Factor, that is calculated by dividing the average wind generation by the current Nameplate and then multiplying that by 100 to give a percentage.

Weekly UPDATE

Generated wind power total as a Percentage of overall total generated power from every source for this last week – 7.1%

Generated wind power total as a Percentage of overall total generated power from every source for the last year (52 weeks) – 8.8%

Capacity Factor for wind power generation for the last week (7 days) – 22.13%

Capacity Factor for wind power generation for the last year (52 weeks) – 28.67%

Capacity Factor for wind power generation for the longer term (96 weeks) – 29.05%

Comments For This Day

Wind generation yet again showed its uselessness for providing a reliable constant source of electrcial power when it was yet again lower than half it was the day before when it rose considerably over the previous day. Down, up, down, never the same two days running, and that up and down is not just on a weekly or daily basis, but on an hourly basis. That average for the day of 1038MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of just 13.4%, and that’s three percent lower than HALF the year round average. Yet again it was low at the time when the evening peak is happening with wind only delivering 2.9% of all generated power, on the day of the weekend when power consumption is at its lowest for the week, down more than ten percent on weekday levels.

When it came to the weekly update, overall power generation from wind only delivered a weekly operational Capacity Factor of just more than 22%, again, well down on the year round average. That dragged both long term averages lower as well, and now they are both struggling to stay above 29%.

I was asked a question in the form of a Comment at one of my daily Posts a couple of days back, asking if perhaps I could add a weekly or a Monthly image showing wind generation. I often wondered if I could do something like this but I didn’t think it could be done.

Sometimes, all it takes is a suggestion to make you try a different direction to see if it can be done, and such was the case here.

What I wanted to do was to take the image I could find at the site I access for those power generation images, and then add something to it for context, and I didn’t think I could do that with either of the two image programs I use.

I now have an image I’m happy with, and from now on, I will be adding that Monthly Power Total to the last daily Post for each Month.

I have attached the image for the Month just finished, July 2020, and again, as with all the images, if you click on the image, it will open on a new page and at a larger size so you can see the detail better.

What I will draw your attention to here is that the total Nameplate for wind power in this vast coverage area is 7728MW. Note on the image that the highest wind generation gets to in this Month is just over 4600MW, and that is just for a single point in time across the Month, the highest wind generation gets to for this Month, and need I mention it again, wind generation has NEVER achieved its total Nameplate ….. EVER, and in fact, the closest in recent times is still just less than 5000MW, and again, even that for just one five minute point in time.

What I have added to the image is a horizontal line across the page and this indicates the year round average for wind power of 2200MW, and again keep in mind that Nameplate total of 7728MW, so this average of 2200MW indicates the current 12 Monthly Capacity Factor for wind power of 28.5%.

I cannot stress enough that total Nameplate of 7728MW, and then for comparison, the total it reaches, that one point in time, and then the average .

*****

Anton Lang uses the screen name of TonyfromOz, and he writes at this site, PA Pundits International on topics related to electrical power generation, from all sources, concentrating mainly on Renewable Power, and how the two most favoured methods of renewable power generation, Wind Power and all versions of Solar Power, fail comprehensively to deliver levels of power required to replace traditional power generation. His Bio is at this link.

OzWindPowerGenerationTFO

Tagged: Australian Electrical Power Consumption, Australian Electrical Power Statistics, Australian Renewable Power, Electrical Power Load Curves, Wind Power Generation

Posted in: Australia, Climate Change, Electrical Power Generation, Renewable Energy, Wind Power