Analysis of Wind Power Ancillary Services Characteristics with German 250-MW Wind Data

Short-term power fluctuations from wind farms may affect interconnected grid operating costs and stability. With the increasing availability of wind power worldwide, power fluctuations have become a concern for some utilities. Under electric industry restructuring in the United States, the impact of these fluctuations will be evaluated by examining provisions and costs of ancillary services for wind power. However, the magnitude of the impact and the effect of aggregation of multiple wind turbines are not well quantified because of a lack of actual wind farm power data. This paper analyzes individual wind turbine and aggregate power output data from the German "250 Megawatt Wind" data project. Data from as many as 175 turbines were examined. Most of the turbines are located in Northern Germany within a 120,000 square kilometer area. Electric system load following and regulation impacts are examined as a function of the number of wind turbines and turbine spacing to quantify the impacts of aggregation. The results show a significant decrease in the system regulation burden with increasing number of wind turbines, even if the wind turbines are in close proximity. Fluctuations of average power in time intervals ranging from a few seconds to five minutes are examined to help define needs for future wind farm data measurement efforts.