Economical viability assessment of a wind farm trading in the spot market

Abstract

The paper analyzes the profitability for a wind farm of 50 MW, which marketed its energy on the Spot market, taking into account the current conditions of evolution of demand and the Uruguayan energy system. For a system with a high component of installed capacity of hydropower origin, the marginal cost is strongly affected by water availability conditions, which is a considerable risk for the wind energy investor. In addition the income may be affected by the entry into service of a second wind farm with similar characteristics, which will result in a decrease in the marginal cost of the system, adversely affecting revenues of the already installed parks which they market their power on the Spot market. Simulations with the software SimSEE, for a term of 20 years, allow one to estimate the generation of a wind farm of these features, as well as the evolution of the marginal cost of the system.