Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Saturday 27 February 2021

Posted on Sun 02/28/2021 by

1


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.

Saturday 27 February 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 – 277MW (12.20PM)

Daily Maximum – 2433MW (12.05AM)

Average Wind Generation – 1074MW

Total Generated Power – 25.77GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 1.1%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 320MW of 24650MW – 12.15PM – 1.30%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 4.7%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 13.21%

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

Wind generation was way down on the level it was yesterday. That average of a truly pitiful 1074MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of just 13.2%. That’s an Australia wide average of 1074MW from a Nameplate of 8132MW, so not much more than one in eight wind towers average operation across the whole Huge AEMO coverage area. You can see that at the low point for the day, it was only generating 277MW, so only operating at 3.4% of what it is theoretically capable of, and at that time it was only delivering 1.1% of all generated power. You’ll also see that the daily peak for overall power consumption was only five minutes after wind was at that low point for the day.

However, that’s not the half of it really. Look now at that graph at right, and you can click on it to open it on a new page at a larger size so you can best see the details.

I have made the image larger than the usual ones so I can point out that this is only for those wind plants in Victoria, as you can see at the bottom of the image listing the States, and the only one ticked is Victoria, and above that, the colours show up just those 24 wind plants in that State of Victoria.

You will also see that I have hovered the mouse over that low point for the day, at 11.25AM, and if you follow the dotted line back to the left side vertical axis, you can see that I have circled the total generated power at that time, that figure of 13.6MW.

The State of Victoria now leads the country in the number of  installed wind plants and also the total Nameplate, now with a Nameplate of 2294MW from its 24 wind plants.

On this day, (Saturday 27Feb) from 7.30AM till 2.30PM, for those seven long hours, the total output power was less than 100MW, from ALL of those 24 wind plants.

The low point was at 11.25AM, when the total delivered power came in at 13MW. THIRTEEN MEGAWATTS TOTAL. That’s at a Capacity Factor of 0.57%, so a tad more than half of one percent. So for every 200 wind towers, only one of them had the blades turning over.

That total Nameplate of 2294MW equates to around 1200 individual wind towers, so in the whole State of Victoria, there were ….. SIX towers in operation generating power.

Now, you might say I’m running down wind power all the time.

But, I ask you, if this is all there is going to be in the future ….. well, what do you do when there are times like this?

This is wrong. It’s just flat out wrong.

Think of how much was paid for all this totally useless wind power.

2294MW in total, and the highest it has ever been is 1350MW, and that was for one five minute recording period ….. in the last YEAR.

I wouldn’t be so down on it if it actually worked, but wind power just does not do what it’s supposed to do, ever.

*****

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