A DWPS wind farm can be configured with 100 MW of wind turbines and a 400 MW expander, to provide peak power and compete with natural gas peaker plants - a feat wind power has never before been able to achieve.
The turbine / expander relationship works as follows. A 100 MW wind farm with a 33% capacity factor delivers energy at the equivalent of eight hours per day at its nameplate capacity [8 hours at 100 MW = 24 hours at 33 MW]. If the wind farm were configured to sell the same quantity of power in four hours, that would require a doubling in the size rating of the expander (200 MW) versus the compressor (still 100 MW). The addition of heat during the expansion process delivers about another doubling (400 MW), depending on the quality (temperature) of the heat.
Such a 'peak-wind' project dispatching 400 MW for about four hours per day to serve the peak of the intraday power demand curve in its market, would reap several significant advantages:
- ability to provide shaped power to customers;
- ability to accept grid curtailments without the loss of energy production, tax credits, or green credits;
- double the MWhours produced (a result of the addition of heat);
- 30-100% better price for its power;
- eligibility for ancillary grid service payments at a rating 4 times the power rating of the wind turbines; and,
- preferential contracting — there are few customers in the world who, given the choice, would opt to contract for intermittent power over dispatchable power.