Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Thursday 11 March 2021

Posted on Fri 03/12/2021 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.

Thursday 11 March 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 – 199MW (12.00PM)

Daily Maximum – 2445MW (12.10AM)

Average Wind Generation – 1295MW

Total Generated Power – 31.08GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 0.8%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 346MW of 26600MW – 12.45PM – 1.30%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 5.4%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 15.92%

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

This was another of those days when there was a large High Pressure weather system hovering over Southern Australia, where the largest concentration of wind plants is located, and because of that wind generation was well down, way lower than it was on the day before. That average of 1295MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor (CF) of just 16%, little more that just HALF the year round average. I have actually highlighted the low point for the day at exactly Midday. On the graph, I have hovered the mouse over that low point and if you follow the dotted line back to the left of the graph, that vertical scale indicating total power generation, you can see I have circled that total at that low point for the day, and it’s just 199MW. That’s a pitiful total power generation from a total Nameplate of 8132MW, so at that time, wind was operating at a CF of just 2.5%, so for every two hundred individual wind towers only five of them had their blades turning over and generating power. At that time, wind was only delivering 0.8% of all generated power, ….. LESS than one percent. What is also in play here is that when wind was around that low point for the day, overall power consumption was rising to its peak for the day, and that happened only 45 minutes after this low for wind, and wind had barely risen from that low point. Again, note the difference between the low for the day and the high, 12 hours before, with wind at its highest when overall power consumption was falling away for the day, and here that difference was 2250MW, so wind cycled through a difference of 92% from high through to low.

Again this highlights just how poorly wind generation perform, and while it is indicative, just what are we supposed to do if wind power is supposed to become the largest supplier of electrical power into the future?

*****

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