Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Thursday 20 May 2021

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 20 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 8587MW, and this is from the current total of 69 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 – 728MW (4.15PM)

Daily Maximum – 4273MW (12.40AM)

Average Wind Generation – 2005MW

Total Generated Power – 48.12GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 2.9%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 785MW of 27550MW – 6.35PM – 2.85%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 8.2%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 23.35%

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 see from that graph for wind generation, it dropped away markedly during the morning, again as a large High Pressure weather system moved into the area where there are the largest concentration of those wind plants in the South of the Country, and wind generation all but vanished totally. The average for the day of 2005MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 23.35%, and that was six percent lower than the year round average. However, that average was bolstered by the high level of wind generation just after midnight, and in those early morning hours while we all slept, because from around Midday for the rest of the day, it was under 1000MW, less than an eight of its Capacity. At the low point for the day, incidentally, around the time of the usual peak power consumption, it was delivering less than three percent of all the generated power from every source, right when the most power was needed to run the Country.

Now, note the difference between the high at just after Midnight and the low, a difference of 3550MW loss of power, and that happened in just twelve hours. That large loss is the equivalent of losing more than seven of those large coal fired Units. When just ONE of those Units goes off line, renewable supporters wail loudly about how unreliable they are, and here we have a loss of wind power equivalent of seven of those coal fired Units. To highlight this even further, there are just eight of those coal fired Units in the State of Victoria. One of them is currently off line for maintenance, so there are seven of them currently in operation. The total Nameplate for those seven Units is 4320MW. At the time of that evening peak, those seven operational Units were delivering 4470MW, at a Capacity Factor of 103.5%, so they were actually delivering more power than their total Nameplate. At the same time, the total Nameplate for all wind generation in Australia, (8587MW, so almost double the Nameplate of those seven Units) well all of that wind generation was delivering just 785MW in total, at a Capacity Factor of 9.1%. What happened in those twelve hours was that wind power lost the same power as all seven of those operational coal fired Units in Victoria. If that actually happened, you would have heard them screaming so loudly. And therein lies the whole point of it really. IF those seven coal fired plants had have failed on the same scale as wind generation failed here, then the whole State of Victoria would have been blacked out totally, and because those wind plants in South Australia failed as well, then South Australia would most likely have been blacked out also, as when wind generation fails in South Australia, they rely heavily on the Interconnector to Victoria to supply the power that the State needs, and without that coal fired power, then South Australia would have most likely been blacked out also.

THAT is why coal fired power is so critical here in Australia. It is the only reliable source of constant power and high amounts of power to actually keep the States running.

Pitiful is all you can really say about wind power when something like this happens.

*****

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