A methodology to analyze the impact of 30-minute wind scheduling on load-following requirements

In this paper, a new method is proposed to investigate the impact of 30-min wind transfers between balancing authorities (BAs) on balancing requirements. The main idea is that if the wind energy transfer from a source BA could be scheduled every half an hour compared to the traditional hourly schedule, it would make the schedule follow its net load more closely. The load-following component is calculated as: (a) the difference between the net load and modified schedule in the source BA, and (b) the difference between modified net load and unchanged hourly schedule in the sink BA. This new method is tested on a few BAs in the Pacific Northwest with source BAs sending renewable and sink BAs receiving renewables. Simulated load following (upward and downward) requirements with the proposed 30-min schedules are compared with the results obtained with all generators scheduled on an hourly basis. The proposed method can effectively help utilities better understand the impact of 30-minute scheduling and make better business decisions.