Goran Strbac is Professor of Electrical Energy Systems at the Imperial College in the UK. Professor Strbac has led a number of national and international research and consultancy projects on technical and economic aspects of system integration of wind generation.
After three trips to New Zealand and over 18 months of analysis, this material sets out the methodology and results of a detailed investigation into the impact of integrating large quantities of wind generation into the New Zealand market.
A follow up report which sets out the analysis in detail, including the results of sensitivity studies, will be complete by the end of May.
In summary, the investigations highlight that the cost of wind integration in the New Zealand market is many times lower than experienced in Europe. This is due to the fact New Zealand has an excellent wind resource and significant hydro generation. Hydro generation is an ideal complement to wind as it can economically and effectively balance variations in wind generation. The complementarity of wind and hydro generation has been part of the focus of the analysis so we can now answer the question; "What happens when the wind doesn't blow?"
Meridian expects that Professor Strbac's work will continue to influence the debate over wind power and wind power integration as the New Zealand market develops towards the Government's 90% renewables target.
New Zealand Wind Integration Study Detailed version (PDF 1.7 MB)
New Zealand Wind Integration Study Summary (1.15 MB)