The effects of wind profile on thermal units generation costs

Although wind power is a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and relatively inexpensive source of renewable energy, the effects of its intermittent nature on power systems need to be carefully considered. This paper investigates the effects of different wind profiles on the operational costs of a thermal-based test system. Two profiles are considered: synoptic dominated and diurnal-dominated variations of the aggregated wind power. To simulate the wind profile effects, a linear mixed integer unit commitment problem is formulated in a GAMS environment. The simulation results illustrate the significant impacts of wind profile on fuel saving benefits, startup costs, and wind power curtailments.