A quantitative analysis of the net benefits of grid integrated wind

Abstract

Throughout the world significant development is being encouraged in wind energy for electricity generation. A complete cost and benefit analysis has been conducted in this paper on grid connected wind generation. It takes into account system costs such as reserve requirements, start-up and ramping implications for conventional plants as well as wear and tear costs. The benefits of wind generation analysed include the emissions benefits, the saving on the fuel bill, the electricity generated and the capacity value. These costs and benefits are then used to generate net benefit curves for wind generation and the sensitivities of the curves are tested with changes in the underlying assumptions. A complete unit commitment model with wind generation is used to determine the dispatches upon which the costs and benefits are calculated.