Calculation of the capacity value for wind generation in Uruguay

Abstract

Traditionally the Uruguayan electric system has been composed of thermal and hydroelectric generation. In the last decade a huge amount of wind and solar generation has been added into the system. This has lead in practice to a reduction of the amount of the thermal back up capacity required. In fact, several MW of thermal generation has recently been decommissioned. However, current regulation in Uruguay do not consider the contribution of wind or solar generation to firm capacity. The aim of this work is to establish an adequate methodology to estimate the contribution of the wind farms in Uruguay to the firm power capacity of the system. Finally, simulations with real data were made in R software in order to evaluate the amount of this constribution.