Generation availability assessment of wind farms

Wind generation is one of the most successful sources of renewable energy for the production of electrical energy. As the number of installations connected into existing networks grows rapidly worldwide there is a need to study the reliability of these energy sources and assess their effects on the system. However, the technical characteristics of wind generation make existing conventional generation models not directly applicable. A new probabilistic model of a wind farm to be used in reliability studies is presented. This model considers the stochastic nature of wind, the failure and repair processes of the wind turbines under different wind regimes, and the output characteristics of the wind turbine in detail. Spatial wind speed correlation and waking effects can also be considered. The model can be used with one of several types of wind turbines. Analytical techniques are used. A practical application of the models is also included.