UWIG to Participate in Wind Turbine/Plant Model Documentation/Validation Project

Reston, Va., August 5, 2009— The Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) announced today that it will participate in a project to develop enhanced documentation, user support, and validations of computer models used to evaluate the impacts of wind energy on the bulk electric power system. EnerNex Corporation of Knoxville, Tenn., in cooperation with UWIG, was recently awarded a grant for the project as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiative to help facilitate 20% of energy from wind in 2030.

EnerNex will work through UWIG’s Turbine Modeling and Interconnection Study User Group, to conduct the two-phase project, whose goal is to accelerate the appropriate use of generic wind turbine models for transmission network analysis. The first phase will focus on the existing generic models, as well as the substantial number of turbine-specific models that have been developed by vendors over the past several years. The second phase builds on the first and takes on the difficult task of locating and acquiring test data from the laboratory, field, or much more detailed simulation models to conduct a validation for each generic model application.

The core project team is comprised of UWIG member organizations and individuals including GE Energy and Siemens-PTI. DOE’s Sandia National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work with UWIG and EnerNex on the effort, along with UWIG utility, ISO, turbine vendor, and regional reliability council representative members, as well as the IEEE’s Power and Energy Society. UWIG will organize and operate a Technical Review Committee with representation from UWIG, Sandia, NREL, and the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) to provide critical review and industry feedback to the project.

According to Charlie Smith, UWIG Executive Director, documentation and validation of wind turbine/plant models is a "critical industry effort, which has been identified by NERC in the report of the Integrating Variable Generation Task Force as a high priority of need for the industry. This cooperation between EnerNex, UWIG, and its members provides the critical ingredients for a successful effort."

The Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) was established in 1989 to provide a forum for the critical analysis of wind technology for utility applications and to serve as a source of credible information on the status of wind technology and deployment. The group’s mission is to accelerate the development and application of good engineering and operational practices supporting the appropriate integration of wind power for utility applications through the coordinated efforts and actions of its members, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, its National Renewable Energy Laboratory and utility research organizations. UWIG currently has over 150 members from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia, including investor-owned, public power, and rural electric cooperative utilities; transmission system operators; and associate member corporate, government, and academic organizations.