The importance of flexible power plant operation for Jiangsu's wind integration

This paper presents the influence of different regulation strategies on wind energy integration into the existing energy system of Jiangsu. The ability of wind integration is defined in terms of the ability to avoid excess electricity production, to conserve primary energy consumption and to reduce CO2 emissions in the system. Firstly, a reference model of Jiangsu's energy system is built using the energy system analysis tool EnergyPLAN based on the year 2009. The model results are then compared to actual values from 2009 to validate their accuracy. Based on the reference model, different regulations of Jiangsu's energy system are compared and analyzed in the range of a wind input from 0% to 42% of the total electricity demand. It is concluded that operating power plants in a flexible way facilitates the promotion of more intermittent wind integration. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.