Chapter 10 - Wind Power’s Contribution to Meeting Peak Demand

Abstract

This chapter explains wind power's contribution to meeting peak demand. It also explores some characteristics of wind capacity value and provides examples of wind capacity contribution. Wind generation value that receives significant attention is the extent to which wind generation may be depended on to meet power system peak demand. The extent to which wind generation contributes to meeting peak demand is broadly termed capacity value. Although no generally accepted definition of capacity value has been adopted, best practices appear to be to define capacity value as incremental effective load-carrying capability (ELCC). ELCC is defined as the peak demand level that can be met by a power system at a given level of reliability. Reliability is measured in terms of probabilities of meeting all demand, and common probabilistic metrics used for computing ELCC include loss of load probability (LOLP), loss of load expectation (LOLE), and expected unserved energy (EUE). Incremental ELCC is determined by starting with a base system meeting the target reliability metric and adding the incremental resource and sufficient load to bring the system back to its target reliability level.