Effects of Wind Turbine Generated Power Fluctuations to Thermal Power Generation – Part I

Abstract

Today, all over the world the number of installed wind turbines is increasing continuously. This causes more and more problems concerning the integration of the fluctuating wind power production into the existing electrical supply systems. To handle these problems the main aim for the future must be to guarantee the security of supply and the quality of electrical energy by taking the maximum advantage of the available wind potentials. Regarding these requirements, it is necessary to have modern fossil-fuelled power plants with high levels of efficiency and a very flexible and efficient operation especially at partial loads. These high dynamics of power plant operation will allow to integrate more power produced by fluctuating renewable energy sources like wind energy. In addition to these modern power plants the power plant operation management and the market for compensatory power to follow the wind power production has to be upgraded as well. With this in mind the maximum wind power integration with current and future power plant parameters is investigated in this study to identify the optimal required parameters that will help to increase the fraction of renewable fluctuating energy sources within the electrical grid.