Australian Daily Wind Power Generation Data – Tuesday 25 May 2021

Posted on Wed 05/26/2021 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.

Tuesday 25 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 – 3580MW (12.45PM)

Daily Maximum – 5642MW (9.00PM)

Average Wind Generation – 4723MW

Total Generated Power – 113.35GWH

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 15.0%

Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 5028MW of 26450MW – 6.15PM – 19.01%

Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 20.4%

Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 55.00%

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 a day of firsts for wind generation. The pressure gradient in the South of the Country between the deep Low Pressure System and the approaching High Pressure system meant that there were strong winds in that area where there is the greatest concentration of wind plants in the South of the Country. Because of that, wind generation was extremely high. That average for the day of 4723MW was the highest average wind generation has ever been, and because of that, the total generated power from wind generation of 113.35GWH was the highest ever, surpassing the previous high by 4GWH. That daily average gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 55%, and ironically, that is lower than it was on the earlier high for power generation, when the CF was 58.9%, mainly because at that earlier time, the total Nameplate for wind generation was lower. (7728MW then, compared to 8587MW now) Also of note today was the high of 5642MW, and that also was the highest wind generation has ever been. That high gave wind generation, for that single five minute point in time, a CF of 65%, the highest it has ever been for the total, and still not even two thirds of its Nameplate.

Of special note on this day is that vertical drop you can see on the total (the black line on that lower graph) and while looking relatively small on this graph, that was a loss of around 2400MW. This was in Queensland, and that was caused by the failure of one Unit at a coal fired plant, causing a cascading failure at other plants, and blacking out a very large part of that State of Queensland. I am writing a separate Post on that failure, with analysis of the sequence of events as it all happened. Power started to come back on an hour after the event, and some places were without power for a number of hours.

*****

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