A Novel Technique for Smoothing Wind Farm Output Power Intermittency

Abstract

In recent decades, climate change has evolved from a hypothetical threat to the earth and its inhabitants to a terrifying fact. It is occurring simultaneously that the price of oil and natural gas continues to rise, endangering the national economy and global security. As a result, seeking alternative renewable energy sources has become a pressing necessity. However, one of the main issues with wind and solar energy is that it is variable and intermittent, resulting in erroneous output power projections. To address this issue, the main objective of this paper is to present and analyze a new strategy for reducing the output power intermittency of distributed wind farms. Instead of aggregating all wind turbines in one location, the proposed approach distributes a large number of wind turbines throughout diverse geographical locations with significant wind potential energy. The total output power generation from all wind turbines is then aggregated through a single control system, which injects the power into the grid in a manner similar to a virtual power plant. Later, the analysis is broadened to further smooth out the fluctuation of the aggregated wind farm power by using energy storage devices and smart grid technologies. Finally, the analytical results reveal that the proposed methodology allows for extended periods of energy delivery when wind speeds are low or not blowing.