Wind power producers in shorter gate closure markets and balancing markets

Wind power is increasingly integrated into power systems through electricity markets. To make the market operation economically possible for wind power producers, the period between bids and delivery (gate closure time) is crucial. Wind power will experience larger forecast errors the longer the gate closure time. This paper presents a case study for wind power producers in Portugal (MIBEL) and Finland and Denmark (Nordpool). Historical wind power forecasts and realized generation together with market prices are used as an example. First the day-ahead and balancing prices are analyzed to see impacts of existing wind power in the markets. Then analyses of imbalance costs are made to illustrate the benefits of shorter gate closure times for wind power producers. The option for wind power producers to become active agents also in imbalance markets is explored, by bidding part of the forecast error one hour before.