The Role of Wind Forecasting in Grid Operations & Reliability

Wind energy is increasingly viewed as a desirable energy source, but it must be integrated into power grids and electric utility systems that are understandably oriented around issues of power, capacity and reliability. It is important to know the actual impact costs of significant wind penetration levels, and the paper first describes a study approach and the results of a specific wind integration study in North America. Once the impact costs are understood, it is then possible to design tools and operating practices to minimize these impact costs. Wind forecasting tools are a critical element in minimizing the impact costs and ensuring reliability with larger amounts of wind energy on the grid, and the approaches and reasonable expectations for state-of-the-art wind forecasting methods are described. The value of wind energy is increased, and larger amounts of wind energy can be used, if it can be scheduled using wind forecasting methods