Firm power and system penetration

The author discusses the impact of wind energy on power system operation, and the nature of its contribution to system reliability and firm power, both at low system penetrations and as the installed wind capacity rises. At low penetrations, wind energy can be assessed as firm power both in terms of its contribution to system reliability and in its fuel saving value. The operational penalties at very low levels are negligible, and certainly well under 5% of the ideal fuel savings for the first few thousand megawatts of WECs capacity on the CEGB system. The penalties associated with wind power rise steadily as the penetration increases, but at a fairly slow rate. It seems highly unlikely that wind utilisation in Britain will ever be seriously limited by system problems-the CEGB system can probably accommodate wind energy contributions in the region of 40-50% of demand before losses necessarily become prohibitive.<
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