Relevant parameters in wind farm production

After the connection of a Wind Farm to the grid several parameters are used to analyze the smooth operation of the installation.

The more relevant are:

Capacity Factor

CF=\left( \frac{E(kWh)}{P(kW) T(h)}\right )

Is a parameter used frequently in power producing  plant. A high capacity factor means that the plant is working almost continuously (for instance a nuclear plant), while a low capacity factor may characterize a power plant working only in peak hours (like some hydro plants).

In the case of wind farms, capacity factor depends more on the wind that on the needs of the grid.

To be economically reasonable, a wind farm needs to have a capacity factor of more than 25%. Translated in hours, it would be around 2190 equivalent hours.

This parameter is probably too “global”, as it doesn’t add information about why the wind farm was not producing: was it for a low wind, for a technical problem of the WTG, for a disconnection from the grid?

Or maybe it is due to a scheduled maintenance or to the wind sector management (the automatic planned disconnection of some WTGs in particular wind conditions)?

Technical Availability

TA=\left( \frac{T(Available)}{T(Total)}\right )

This is easily defined: basically is the ratio between the hours the WTG was available for production an the total number of hours in the considered period. If there is a fault in the grid, or if wind condition is above or below the maximum, it doesn’t count as “unavailability”.

Production Availability

PA=\left( \frac{T(Producing)}{T(Total)}\right )

This is parameters start to be interesting from an economical point of view: is the ratio between the total number of hours producing and the hours in the considered period. It will be less than 1 due to grid disconnections, WTG problems and wind outside the operational limits.

Effective Availability

EA=\left( \frac{T(producing)}{T(wind)-T(disconnected)-T(stop)}\right )

This parameter give a very solid information about the quality of the turbine, and the “real” availability: is the ratio between the hours of production and the hours of wind speed between the operational limits, minus the hours disconnected by the grid (for a grid problem or order) minus the justified stops (for visits, preventive maintenance, etc.)

This entry was posted in Economics, WTG Technology by Francesco Miceli. Bookmark the permalink.

About Francesco Miceli

Hello! My name is Francesco and I'm a civil engineer specialized in EPC (that is, "turnkey") wind farms projects. I'm currently based in Hamburg, Germany and I'm developing several interesting project all around the world - southern Europe, LATAM and various other countries. If you want to contact me please don't leave a comment in the blog (I don't check them very often) - you can use the contact form. You can write me in English, Spanish and Italian. To find a (somewhat concise) description of my non-wind business activities you can visit my webpage - www.francescomiceli.com If you want to know more about my work, here you can download my CV - www.windfarmbop.com/CV_Francesco_Miceli.pdf Hope you like the blog! Francesco

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