Knowledge Is Power: Efficiently Integrating Wind Energy and Wind Forecasts

Abstract

The paper discusses the general wind power forecast error curve and how several power systems have exploited the shape of this curve to successfully incorporate significant amounts of wind energy at very low cost. The paper examined some of these systems in more detail to better understand how wind variability and wind forecast uncertainty are efficiently handled through these approaches. The paper also show that these elegant approaches for integrating wind into dispatch, although quite simple from a weather forecasting point of view, actually clarify the requirements and increase the value of sophisticated wind power forecasts in other time frames and for additional users. Taken together, these approaches can efficiently and reliably incorporate wind energy in power system operations and power markets.