Effect of generator notification time on the cost of wind integration

Wind power, due to its volatility and unpredictability, is less valuable than an equivalent amount of energy from a dispatchable or constant-power source. To facilitate the economic evaluation of wind, various studies have attempted to identify "wind integration costs", or the reduction in value that must be attributed to wind energy as it is compared to traditional, non-volatile sources. The commonly-used methodologies have not mirrored the real-life process of dispatching and redispatching around uncertain system conditions. As a result, it has not been possible to incorporate an important factor in integration costs: the notification time of traditional generation units on the system. This paper introduces a model that accounts for notification time in the evaluation of wind integration costs, and provides a realistic basis for attributing extra value to fast-responding thermal resources.