Ararat Wind Farm at full capacity

Could not help but notice some news media coverage yesterday (e.g. here and here) of how the Ararat Wind Farm is now at full capacity.  Hence, and especially because we highlighted the start of production on 31st August 2016, thought I would have a quick look.

I powered up NEM-Review v6 to generate the following trended daily output for the Ararat Wind Farm since its first production and, for some comparability, included daily total production from all wind farms based in Victoria (which includes Ararat*):

As shown, daily wind production from all wind farms across Victoria has, on rare occasions, topped 24,000MWh (as noted on the image, this is a measure of volume – as distinct from an often-confused “MW” measure of rate).

Also shown is that the best day achieved at Ararat Wind Farm, thus far, was Monday 10th April – when total production of 4,300MWh was produced (or equivalent to a 180MW power plant running flat out over a day).  As can be seen, most days have been much lower than that level – particularly (coincidentally) days from the 10th April till now.

We’re watching the evolution of the energy sector with very keen interest…

*  For those who don’t understand (based on questions we receive about the NEM-Watch fuel type widget on RenewEconomy, there are a few!) the ACT Government’s 100% target is sourcing production from many locations across the NEM – not just in the ACT.  Hence it can be thought of as more of a consumption-based measure, as distinct from the supply-based measures that the larger state targets take the form of.