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 28 December 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 – 1465MW (12.45PM)
Daily Maximum – 4945MW (12.55AM)
Average Wind Generation – 3255MW
Total Generated Power – 78.12GWH
Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At The Low Point For The Day – 6.4%
Percentage Supplied By Wind Power At Peak Power For The Day – 3602MW of 21970MW – 7.25PM – 16.40% (Mid afternoon Peak with rooftop solar added was 23340MW at 10.40AM)
Average Percentage Of Overall Total Power Generation – 15.9%
Daily Operational Capacity Factor – 37.91%
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, and the average for this day of 3255MW gave wind generation a daily operational Capacity Factor of 37.9%, and that was seven percent higher than the year round average. Wind was rising at around the usual time of the evening Peak for maximum power consumption, and at that time, wind was delivering 16.4% of all the generated power from every source. Again with wind coming off that high of the day before of over 5000MW, so at Midnight it was still quite high, so that meant that there was again, a large difference between the high for the day and the low, and here, on this day, that gap was 3480MW.
*****
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
Wed 12/29/2021
Tony, why does the reported total generation peak around midday? I thought that peak demand was normally in the evening. I wonder if it has something to do with the reported rooftop solar being over-estimated, or is it inefficient? I have just noticed in Victoria that peak electricity rates for households have changed from 7am-11pm Mon-Fri to 3-9pm every day. Small business peak rates are 9am-9pm. Hope you have a great 2022.
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TonyfromOz
Wed 12/29/2021
Robber,
thanks for coming in and leaving another comment here.
As you can see (over the time you have become interested in all this) Electrical power consumption, and directly from that, power generation , are enormously complex to understand.
The difference between the shapes of the Load Curve (power consumption) fro Summer and Winter have ALWAYS been similar, with that one peak towards the middle of the day in Summer, and the two distinct peaks in the Winter. Those peaks are always there, year round, only in Summer, they are hidden by the continuation of that rise after the morning peak in the cooler Months, while in those cooler Months the Load Curve has that dip. At its highest, (the Summer max and the same time on the Winter dip) the difference between the two points on the Summer and Winter Load Curves can be upwards of 8000MW to 12000MW.
It’s an easy thing to explain, and having said that, a difficult thing to understand, so that’s why no one ever explains it, hey, not that anyone even thinks it exists in the first place.
It’s all down to HVAC, the acronym for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning. This is NOT something that happens in the Residential Sector, but almost solely in the other two sectors of consumption, Commerce and Industry.
Rather than explain it all here, I have a link for you to go to, and there you can read what happens. That link is to an older Post of mine I made during the Base Load Series I did a number of years ago, and this one is dated October of 2017, so four years ago, and only one thing has changed in all that time. Now, rooftop Solar power generation tends to cover that daytime peak up, and to a lesser degree to also cover it in the cooler Months, but power use is still the same as it always was.
Now it’s a little difficult to comprehend, and I have tried to simplify it, but it is correct. Once you get to the link, scroll down to where I write the text, underneath the data.
This is the link to that Post. Any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.
All the best in the New Year to you also.
Tony.
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