Ordinal optimization theory based planning for clustered wind farms considering the capacity credit

Abstract

Wind power planning aims to locate and size wind farms optimally. Traditionally, wind power planners tend to choose the wind farms with the richest wind resources to maximize the energy benefit. However, the capacity benefit of wind power should also be considered in large-scale clustered wind farm planning because the correlation among the wind farms exerts an obvious influence on the capacity benefit brought about by the combined wind power. This paper proposes a planning model considering both the energy and the capacity benefit of the wind farms. The capacity benefit is evaluated by the wind power capacity credit. The Ordinal Optimization (OO) Theory, capable of handling problems with non-analytical forms, is applied to address the model. To verify the feasibility and advantages of the model, the proposed model is compared with a widely used genetic algorithm (GA) via a modified IEEE RTS-79 system and the real world case of Ningxia, China. The results show that the diversity of the wind farm enhances the capacity credit of wind power.