The Impact of Incorporating Wind Energy in the Electric Grid

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the impact of increasing the penetration of wind generation with real variability on the risk to, and robustness of, the power transmission grid using a dynamic model of the power transmission system (OPA). There are three timescales of variability discussed but this paper will focus on the impact of two. It is found that with different fractions and distributions of wind generation and central generation, varied dynamics and risk are possible. One important parameter is the fraction of the total power demand supplied by the wind generation. It is found that the risk has a minimum in fraction of wind power supplied, after which the risk increased as the wind power penetration increases. In the same networks, decreasing the number of central generators without decreasing their power supplied in general increases the risk after a critical minimum number of generators is reached.