South Australian Wind Study Report
South Australia is the largest producer of wind energy in Australia, and has the highest percentage contribution to peak demand in the NEM. The Wind Study Report provides an analysis of wind generation trends in South Australia, including regional wind generation variation and emerging developments. This report is a component of the package of information we develop for the South Australian Government as part of our South Australian Advisory Functions.
The key points from the report include:
- The maximum 5-minute wind generation in South Australia was 1,081 MW, and the largest change across the whole of South Australia within a 5-minute period was a decrease of 294 MW.
- In January 2012 the maximum monthly wind generation was almost 390 GWh.
- There is a correlation between negative price periods and moderate to high levels of wind generation (between 200 MWh and 600 MWh) in South Australia, with the majority of negative price periods occurring concurrent with high wind generation at around 04:00 AM.
- The diversity between the three defined geographical sub-regions results in the smoothing of the daily wind generation profiles across the state.
- Two of the sub-regions examined (Mid-North and Coastal Peninsula) have similar profiles with higher overall generation variation across the day.
The accompanying data files include figures, tables, and underlying data from the report.