Unleashing the economic potential of wind power for ancillary services

Abstract

Ancillary services play a significant role in ensuring stable operation of power systems in the growing penetration of renewable energy. Some of the important functions for ancillary support include voltage support, frequency support, and system restoration. This work highlights the possibility of relevant ancillary support from wind power and investigates how such services will impact from an economic point of view. A crucial aspect of ancillary services from wind power relates to tailored and dynamic information about the conditional power production from the turbines and wind parks which could be obtained through accurate wind power forecasting. The study of the impact of forecast accuracy and correlation in errors on the possibility for wind power to provide ancillary services is analyzed. Furthermore, the limitations and challenges associated with the technical capabilities of wind turbines to support such services are reviewed and presented. An initial qualitative assessment of the value of providing such services is carried out and the capabilities combined with electricity market data from Nord Pool taking an example of the western region of Denmark is discussed. The result of this work shows that enhancing ancillary services from wind power combined with more accurate wind forecasting has a positive financial impact on wind power market.