On the effect of spatial dispersion of wind power plants on the wind energy capacity credit in Greece

Wind energy is now a mature technology and can be considered as a significant contributor in reducing CO2 emissions and protecting the environment. To meet the wind energy national targets, effective implementation of massive wind power installed capacity in the power supply system is required. Additionally, capacity credit is an important issue for an unstable power supply system as in Greece. To achieve high and reliable wind energy penetration levels into the system, the effect of spatial dispersion of wind energy installations within a very wide area ( e. g. national level) on the power capacity credit should be accounted for. In the present paper, a methodology for estimating the effect of spatial dispersion of wind farm installations on the capacity credit is presented and applied for the power supply system of Greece. The method is based on probability theory and makes use of wind forecasting models to represent the wind energy potential over any candidate area for future wind farm installations in the country. Representative wind power development scenarios are studied and evaluated. Results show that the spatial dispersion of wind power plants contributes beneficially to the wind capacity credit.