Control strategy for maximising wind energy supply to a local authority

This paper focuses on renewable electricity supply coupled with load management. The electricity supply is from a wind farm supplemented by a controllable supply from a small scale hydro-electric plant. An Irish local authority is used as a case study to test this approach. Local authorities account for a significant proportion of electricity consumption within the EU and typically have a range of load types that include: water pumping, waste water treatment, offices and street lighting. A number of these loads may be deemed controllable. Analysis is done within the context of the liberalised Irish electricity market. Initial analysis is conducted in the absence of a control strategy and with the exclusion of the small scale hydro-electric plant from the supply. This analysis aims to establish whether green electricity generators and suppliers participating within this electricity market can compete with existing Irish government mechanisms for the promotion of renewable electricity generation and supply. This analysis is firstly conducted in the absence of a financial incentive for their participation and then with the inclusion of a carbon tax as an incentive. Further analysis seeks to establish if the implementation of an electricity control strategy can maximise the use of the available renewable electricity supply. This is expected to increase the overall project economics by reducing the electricity generator and supplier's dependency on the electricity balancing market. It is intended that this control strategy will be applied to the completed development for real-time control of the electricity supply and demand. Computer simulations are used for the purpose of analysis.