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Albany, New York | Barcelona, Spain | Bangalore, India | awstruepower.com | +1 877‐899‐3463©2011 AWS Truepower, LLC

WINDPOWER 2013 ConferenceChicago, May 8, 2013

Bruce Bailey, Ph.D. President/CEOCo‐Authors:

Whitney Wilson, Senior EngineerColin Tareila, Engineer

Understanding Offshore Wind’s Enhanced Peak Load Coincidence

for East Coast Transmission Systems


©2011 AWS Truepower, LLC

Widespread Interest in Offshore Wind

Offshorewind.net



Meteorology of Peak Load Events

Wind Speeds During Sea BreezesAtmospheric Circulations Favoring Sea Breezes and Ocean Currents



Sea Breeze Structure


Load Matching Quality of the Resource

• Offshore wind has a stronger diurnal coincidence with load than onshore wind, having production peaks in the late afternoon and early evening.

• Coincidence of offshore wind and load is better defined in summer months, when loads peak.

• Stronger coincidence is beneficial to grid operators, as they will receive the energy when they need to support load.

• Stronger coincidence is beneficial to developers, as they will generate energy when power prices are at a peak.



Load Coincidence Illustration ‐ Virginia

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Dominion VA Summer Load Coincidence

Dominion Load 12 NM Offshore Coastal Onshore Mountains Chesapeake Light C‐MAN

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Load Coincidence Illustration ‐ Georgia

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Georgia PowerSummer Load Coincidence

Georgia Power Load 12 NM Offshore Coastal Onshore Mountains Gray's Reef Buoy

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Potential Wind Project Areas in the New York Bight


Offshore & Onshore Capacity Factors, Offshore Wind Speed and NYC Load for Sea Breeze Cases

Multiple Offshore Wind Projects: 48% CF

Upstate NY Wind Projects: 12% CF

Peak Load Hours


Heat Index, Peak Load and Sea Breeze Intensity – NYC Region (2008‐12)



Average Load Coincidence for Peak Days



Variations Among Projects for a Single Event

June 21, 2012


Including Solar as a Load Coincident Resource

• Solar is another variable renewable energy resource that has significant growth potential• The same heat waves that drive demand peaks and strong sea breezes also provide a reliable solar resource.


Case Study of Enhanced Peak Load Reduction

from Offshore Wind and Land‐Based Solar for

New York City(Zone J)

‐ July 6, 2010 ‐

Peak Load = 11.2 GW

Illustration assumes 20% penetration of renewables.

From Perez, Freedman & Hoff; 2012


Conclusions• Weather events responsible for peak electric loads on the East

Coast also produce strong sea breezes. Load coincidence from offshore projects is much better vs inland;

• On peak load days, effective capacities of offshore projects >40% and can approach 100% of max output;

• Quality of load match depends on locale and event. Forecasting services can inform schedulers;

• Combination of wind & solar have higher load coincidence than either one alone.



THANK [email protected]

wind’s coincidence systems - ul€¦ · albany, new york | barcelona, spain | bangalore, india |...

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