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 29 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 – 688MW (3.05PM)
Daily Maximum – 3136MW (6.45AM)
Average Wind Generation – 2132MW
Total Generated Power – 51.16GWH
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 – 1682MW of 27320MW – 6.25PM – 6.16%
Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – %
Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 24.83%
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 lower on this day than it was on the day before. The average of 2132MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 24.8%, around five percent lower than the year round average. Note as always seems to be the case, that wind generation was around its low point for the day as that usual evening peak for power consumption came around, and at that time, wind generation was only delivering 6.1% of all the generated power. Also note the steep drop between the maximum for the day and the minimum, when wind generation lost 2450MW, the equivalent of five of those large scale coal fired Units, and it lost that large amount of power in just a little over six 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
Robber
Sun 05/30/2021
And Sunday night had even less wind generation. The whole grid is suffering from the loss of Callide, with daily prices in Qld over $100/MWhr, with flow on effects across the network.
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TonyfromOz
Sun 05/30/2021
Robber,
Yes.
So much for the State Premier and her Energy Minister saying that the Callide incident was not much of a problem, and that the Plant will be up and running within days.
Here we are, now six days after the incident, and ALL FOUR Units at the plant are still offline, and there are other Units also offline in Queensland.
For a State that relies so heavily on coal fired power, it can only deliver a maximum of 4450MW from a total Nameplate of 8149MW, just 55% of it’s coal fired power total.
No wonder they are struggling.
Tony.
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Paul Jenkinson
Sun 05/30/2021
Thanks for your ongoing efforts Anton.Hopefully the West will come to their senses sooner than later.Otherwise Chinese communism is our legacy.
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TonyfromOz
Sun 05/30/2021
Paul,
thanks for the kind words, and thanks also for taking the time to leave a comment here.
What this daily data record does is to have a complete reference at hand if evidence is needed to show the total inability of wind generation to deliver the REAL power that is needed to keep a Country running.
People may point to an individual wind plant and say that the performance is good enough to do this, but when the whole fleet of every wind plant is shown, it’s plain to see just how inadequate wind generation really is, no matter how many of them they construct.
Since I started collecting the data, wind Nameplate has increased by 62%, and the Capacity Factor has hardly moved from that current 29% mark, in 140 weeks, almost 3 years now. When I started, that Capacity Factor was 28.7%.
Tony.
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