Integration of the wind farms into the Romanian power system

Romania, being European Community member, directed its national energetic program to increase the share of renewable energy sources and the efficiency of power generation by cogeneration of heat and power. Targets are set and declared to the European Commission: in 2010 33% of the total consumes to be guaranteed from renewable sources and 35% in 2015, including the hydro production. In conditions of 25% up to 34% of consume is covered by hydro energy sources, we plan to increase other renewable sources, especially wind farms. In these conditions, Romania faces a forced development of the wind farms, in situation of heaving in 2007 only 7 MW wind capacity installed while at the middle of 2008 the wind farm installed capacity requirement is more than 10,000 MW. This situation demands modifications in the future structure of the power system generation and operation in order to respect both the high order requirements of system operational security that are imposed by the UCTE member status and the requirements coming from energy market rules. The purpose of the paper is to present the main particularities of wind energy integration in the Romanian power grid, the particularities of the wind capacity in Romania in its specific context of the electrical system, the problems that occurred in process if issuing the access to the grid and our first solutions. We are facing the question of the network operation security with such a large share of not dispatched power sources and the need of reserve power for power fluctuations compensation. The challenge for Romania in wind farm integration is not only the assurance of the access to the grid and the grid development, but also the development of the whole system in direction of: flexibility of the supply, operation (assurance of needed reserves), measurement and control systems and market energy based on balance responsibility. In order to integrate these new renewable energy producers into the interconnected grid we took into consideration all the necessary costs for the technical adaptations such as grid connections and grid reinforcements and also the reserve cost. The costs determined by the wind energy integration are taken into account by our regulatory transmission and distribution system operators and will be compensated in the tariff structures.