Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Wednesday 20th January 2021

Posted on Thu 01/21/2021 by

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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.

Wednesday 20th January 2021

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 8132MW, and this is from the current total of 67 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 – 551MW (12.45PM)

Daily Maximum – 3540MW (12.30AM)

Average Wind Generation – 2086MW

Total Generated Power – 50.06GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 2.2%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 638MW of 25950MW – 11.30AM – 2.46%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 8.8%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 25.65%

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.

Comments For This Day

As you can easily see, wind generation crashed throughout this day. That average of 2086MW was bolstered only because it was high when overall consumption was lowest for the day, the exact opposite of the PRIME task of electrical power generation. That average gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 25.65%, around four percent lower than the year round average. However, the main thing to look at here is that as overall power consumption reached its maximum for the day, wind generation was rolling along at its lowest point for the day, when wind was only delivering between 2.2% and 2.5%, and really, that’s just not good enough. That low of 550MW (from a total Nameplate of 8132MW) meant that wind generation was only operating at a CF of 6.8%, so there were just 6 wind turbines out of every 100 with their blades actually turning. As you can see, that fall from 6AM to Midday was 2500MW, but that’s not the half of it. because it actually fell from the high at 10PM the night before of 3850MW, so that fall across 14 hours was 3300MW, and when wind supporters wail so loudly when a single 500MW coal fired Unit goes off line, saying how unreliable they are, this loss of that 3300MW is the equivalent of ….. SEVEN of those large coal fired Units. This is what happens when the reliance on wind generation gives this result, when the wind fails and all of those towers just automatically turn off. That huge loss of power has to be made up from traditional sources, in the main, natural gas fired power plants, you know, fossil fuel burning and Carbon Dioxide emitting plants, and this sort of defeats the whole purpose of wind generation.

*****

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

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