Wind forecasting to go central in Ontario
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator says it will launch a centralized wind forecasting service in 2010, relieving individual wind-farm operators of the administrative burden and improving the accuracy of wind forecasting in the province. (See draft paper on centralized forecasting released in February). As jurisdictions like Ontario increase their penetration of wind, centralized forecasting is becoming a must. System operators in Germany, New York, California, Texas, the Midwest and Alberta are considering or have already launched centralized wind forecasting services, which are proven to reduce forecasting errors by as much as 5 per cent or more. Unclear is how exactly wind operators will be charged for this service and whether it will be mandatory or voluntary. As part of the Ontario launch, the system operator will be making available a Web-based “Wind Tracker” app that graphically displays hourly wind output from the province’s large-scale wind farms.
Tags: IESO, wind tracker
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
August 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
What will OIESO (aka the Hydro One lobby group) charge our good windy generators for such a service or shall that be included on the tax payers electricity bill ?