Smoothing Power Output from Wind Farms: A New Patent Aimed at Reducing Variability and Increasing Efficiency

According to a patent filed by inventors Vijay Arya and Partha Dutta on August 2, 2012, and published online on November 24, 2015, there is a pressing need to reduce the variability of wind power integration into grid and electricity markets. The inventors' background information highlights the challenges of wind power, which can be intermittent and highly variable, making it difficult for wind power producers to participate in day-ahead markets. Currently, wind power is settled at the real-time price or sold on long-term power purchase agreements, resulting in wasted resources and suboptimal economic gains for wind farm operators.

Key Takeaways:

• The patent aims to smooth power output from wind farms by providing techniques for determining consistent wind power output.
• The proposed method involves analyzing forecasted wind power production, actual wind power production, variable price of power measurement, power storage battery state and capacity measurement, and penalty measurement for wind power change of rate to determine a consistent rate at which wind power is to be exported from the wind power producer to a grid.
• The invention includes a system for determining consistent wind power output, comprising an interface for interfacing with a monitoring device, an interface for interfacing with an energy storage management system, an interface for interfacing with a wind forecast system, and an output limiter to process instructions on the consistent rate at which wind power is to be exported from the wind power producer to a grid.
• The patent aims to address the limitations of existing approaches, which do not provide a proper mechanism for wind power producers to participate in day-ahead markets and result in wasted resources and suboptimal economic gains for wind farm operators.
• The invention can be implemented in the form of an article of manufacture, an apparatus including a memory and at least one processor, or means for carrying out the method steps.
• The proposed system can interact with various entities to collect energy prices and variation penalty information, and can analyze the collected data to determine a consistent rate at which wind power is to be exported to a grid.

Statistics:

• Wind power production is expected to be smoothed through the proposed method, increasing efficiency and reducing variability.
• The system can collect and analyze data from various sources, including wind forecast systems, energy storage management systems, and monitoring devices.
• The proposed method can determine a consistent rate at which wind power is to be exported from the wind power producer to a grid, resulting in increased economic gains for wind farm operators.
• The patent was filed on August 2, 2012, and published online on November 24, 2015.
• The proposed system includes an interface for interfacing with one or more entities to collect energy prices and variation penalty information.

Sources:

• Arya, Vijay; Dutta, Partha. Smoothing Power Output from a Wind Farm. U.S. Patent Number 9196011, filed August 2, 2012, and published online on November 24, 2015. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=9196011.PN.&OS=PN/9196011RS=PN/9196011.