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.
Monday 10 May 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 – 2471MW (4.35PM)
Daily Maximum – 4074MW (6.25AM)
Average Wind Generation – 3506MW
Total Generated Power – 84.14GWH
Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 9.8%
Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 3278MW of 27150MW – 6.05PM – 12.07%
Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 15.7%
Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 43.11%
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
- 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)
- For total power in GWH, multiply the average daily power by 24, and then divide by 1000.
- 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 well up on the average of the day before, with high winds in that area where almost two thirds of the wind plants in Australia are located. That daily average of 3506MW (more than double the average of the day before) gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 43.1%, and that was thirteen percent higher than the year round average. As is regularly the case in high wind situations, there were some pretty large and sudden losses of power and you can see those on that wind generation graph. The largest was a loss of 550MW around 4PM, losing that power in ten minutes and then a further 100MW almost immediately following that. That’s a loss of around 300 wind towers all turning off at the same time. Prior to that there were a number of power losses between 350MW and 400MW in the hours leading up to the major fall. With a relatively high average across the day, wind generation delivered 15.7% of all generated power across the day.
*****
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.
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Robber
Tue 05/11/2021
Macarthur windmills (biggest in Vic) shutdown for last couple of days. And next biggest Ararat very low output May 6-9.
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TonyfromOz
Tue 05/11/2021
Robber,
with Macarthur being the largest wind plant in the Country, (well now the second largest after Coopers Gap in Queensland) it’s easy to see when they go offline, as their total is always along the top of those coloured codes for the wind plants, and those sudden falls are pretty obvious. This is just another of those occasions. This same plant was offline for 26 consecutive days in August last year, and three weeks the year before when the plant changed hands, and a couple of weeks the year before. Those long periods offline have affected the plant’s Capacity Factor (CF) and it is now averaging only around 25% on that year round basis. That outage last August, I actually phoned them up and asked about it, trying to sound more enquiring, you know ….. “Umm, I was just wondering” The guy who I spoke with mentioned there was a major problem at a nearby Sub Station, so it was a problem of transmission into the grid, rather than a fault with the plant itself. 26 days all up at zero output.
Because it’s so easy to see with Macarthur, being so large in power output, well, for wind plants anyway, you sometimes wonder if similar situations are happening with those smaller ones, but without checking each one on a daily basis, there’s no way of really knowing.
What you can see is that just before it ‘crashed’ yesterday, the plant was delivering around 350MW. That’s about the highest the plant can actually deliver. It has never delivered its total Nameplate, (420MW) even for one five minute recording period. That’s the nature of wind plants. Perhaps (only a perhaps here) some of the smaller plants might go close to Nameplate for those five minute recording periods, but, again, you’ll never know.
Wind supporters are really happy to jump all over their best ever total, but it’s always humorous to read when they do. They quote the one single five minute recording period and tell that wind reached its highest ever total, in this case around Midnight for that total of 5400MW. That’s from a Nameplate of 8132MW, so just a 66% CF, the best ever, and for just five minutes only.
Tony.
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