Assessing the impact of a wind farm in the Colombian Power System

The wind energy potential in La Guajira region and its complementarity with the hydrological regimes justify the current interest in Colombia on this source and technology. The power production potential is estimated up to 18... [ view full abstract ]

The wind energy potential in La Guajira region and its complementarity with the hydrological regimes justify the current interest in Colombia on this source and technology. The power production potential is estimated up to 18 GW, enough to satisfy in excess the current peak demand of the system. The market spot price could be reduced due to the low variable costs of these generation technologies. Also wind energy could help to preserve water reservoirs in a system with a large participation of hydro plants during extended droughts, like the ones caused by El Niño phenomenon. Lastly, the inclusion of renewable generation in the Colombian mix can be viewed as a climate change mitigation option since it could replace energy generated using thermal plants, and therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, the impact of a hypothetical 376.2 MW wind park located in La Guajira region on the Colombian electrical system is evaluated. A retrospective analysis is performed to evaluate hypothetical changes due to the operation of this park during the period 2006 – 2016 in: i) market clearing prices and energy marginal costs, ii) levels of the aggregated reservoir through time and iii) carbon emissions due to electrical generation. Two different methodologies are used to assess those impacts: a reconstruction of the spot market supply curve by using historic economic dispatches and including the new plant, and a full long-run simulations of the marginal cost curves of the ‘new’ power system by using SDDP (hydrothermal dispatch model, based on stochastic dual dynamic programming). Wind park generation is calculated by using data from weather stations located in the selected region and a park model that includes wake effect for a given layout. The demand to be attended is represented in different scenarios. Results showed reductions of the spot price and energy marginal cost, increases in the level of the aggregated reservoir and reductions in emissions due to the operation of the wind park.

Keywords: Wind energy, Renewable impact, Merit Order Effect, Colombia, La Guajira.