Reliability Focused and Market Driven Growth of Wind Power in Electric Power Systems

Abstract

Electric power generation from renewable sources has received considerable attention due to environmental concerns. Recent technological developments in wind turbines have resulted in large scale applications in power systems. The rapid growth of wind power has been backed by different forms of financial incentives throughout the world. Long-term growth of wind power should, however, be driven by sustainable market mechanisms. Environmental benefits can be used to the advantage of the renewables to compete with the less costly conventional power sources. Assigning monetary value to the environmental benefits and specifying targets for their growth have been recognized as a potential solution. This paper presents a probabilistic method to evaluate the renewable energy credit and its impact on wind penetration and adequacy of power generating systems. The technique incorporates reliability and economic analyses and is applied to published test systems to illustrate the results and their influence on key system variables. The paper provides useful information to system planners and policy makers of wind power generation.