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Wind Generation Investigation Project (WGIP)

Index

To accommodate the connection of further wind generation while maintaining the integrity of the New Zealand power system, the Commission initiated a strategic project to assess the likely impact of wind generation development over the next 5 to 10 years. This study will identify wider power system and electricity market implications of additional wind generation and how these can be best resolved to enable the development of wind generation on a “level playing field” with other generation sources.

Structure of the WGIP

The project sponsor is Darryl Renner, the Commission’s Director System Operations and Common Quality. The project manager is Bronwyn Ward.

The project team, comprising representatives of the System Operator and the Commission, has scoped and carried out much of the analytical work.

A Technical Stakeholder Group (TSG) was established to advise and assist the Commission and the Project Team with tasks relating to this project. The six members of TSG were appointed for the full term of the WGIP.

A number of specialist external resources have been appointed to carry out specific tasks. Garrad Hassan has provided statistical analysis to support the variability and unpredictability investigations, DigSilent has provided dynamic analysis, and Concept Consulting is carrying out the Options analysis.

WGIP scope

The Commission consulted on the scope of work for this project, with the final scope pdf [72 KB]

approved by the Board in September 2005.

The WGIP has four stages:

develop scenarios;
determine implications of the scenarios for the power system and electricity market;
identify and assess options to address identified issues; and
develop recommendations.

Scenarios for the WGIP

Consultation will occur at significant stages during this project.

Consultation to date

Scenarios for the wind generation investigation project

Wind generation investigation project (Closing date 14 July 2005)

Submissions received

Implications Analysis

At the commencement of the implications analysis, the Commission appointed Garrad Hassan Pacific Ltd to investigate the correlation of wind speeds and theoretical power outputs both within and between a number of regions. The analysis shows generally low correlations between regions, particularly for shorter time frames.

Regional wind farm correlations pdf [410 KB]

The Commission would like to thank all those parties that provided data for this project.

The project team has carried out a number of analyses to assess the potential impacts of the agreed scenarios on the electricity system and market. These tasks are broadly covered in section 4.2 of the project scope "what are the implications". These include investigations into the effect of unpredictability and variability on scheduling, dispatch and asset loading, and the effects of wind generation on under-frequency management, voltage management, static voltage stability, dynamic voltage stability, and oscillatory and transient stability.

The reports are complete and can be downloaded below.

A public briefing covering investigations 1-6 was held on 3 September 2007.

Slides from the briefing

Options analysis

The Options stage of the WGIP commenced in early 2007. Concept Consulting was appointed to undertake this work, which involved examining a number of options for addressing each of the identified issues, in collaboration with the Commission. A discussion paper on high level options was put out for consultation in on 19 October 2007.

Further Work

Following review of submissions, recommendations were made to the Commission Board regarding allocation of each of the identified tasks to Commission work streams. The recommendations included both additions to existing tasks, and new tasks, and included a priority level for each task.

The following tables show the approved allocation tasks. No further work will be carried out under the WGIP. A Commission staff member has been tasked with monitoring and reporting on progress with the set of tasks arising from the WGIP.

Table 1: Higher priority tasks

Issue	Task	Allocation
Dispatch	Enable more FRR providers, FRR sharing via HVDC.	Existing tasks (common quality work plan)
Dispatch	Develop low voltage ride through standard.	New task (common quality work plan)
Dispatch	Continue gathering data to assess short-term wind generation availability.	New task (modelling work plan)
Dispatch, under-frequency, voltage, pre-dispatch	Review current dispensations/ cost allocation regime in relation to technical performance obligations.	New task (common quality work plan)
Pre-dispatch	Collect and analyse wind generation forecasting data to better understand forecasting uncertainties.	New task (modelling work plan)
Pre-dispatch	Investigate wind forecasting tools and incentives to improve wind generation forecasting accuracy.	New task (wholesale markets work plan)

Table 2: Lower priority tasks

Issue	Task	Allocation
Dispatch	Review FRR cost allocation.	Existing (pending) task (common quality work plan)
Dispatch	Review dispatch efficiency.	Existing (pending) task (wholesale markets work plan)
Dispatch, under frequency, voltage	Review backstop rules for constraining dispatch for system security purposes.	New task (wholesale markets work plan)
Under-frequency	Review emergency management arrangements in relation to under-frequency event management	Existing (active) task (common quality work plan)
Voltage	Encourage improvements to poor peak off-take power factor in problem areas.	Existing (pending) task (common quality work plan)
Voltage	Enhance kvar procurement options.	Existing (pending) task (common quality work plan)
Voltage	Review technical performance obligations for voltage support, including clarifying cost allocation.	New task (common quality work plan)
Pre-dispatch	Consider role of demand response options & reliance on instructed load curtailment in emergencies.	Existing (active) task (load management project and common quality work plan)
Various	Review market information to enable better use of hydro / thermal flexibility. Investigate whether the market will effectively signal/ value increasing flexibility. Investigate whether undue barriers to commercial arrangements to compensate for wind uncertainty exist. Investigate other market interventions (given complexity of issues & implementation timeframes).	Existing (active) task (market design review)