The Story of a Rural Public Power District – Before and After Distribution Grid Connected Wind Power Generation

Utility-scale distributed generation is growing at an increasingly faster pace every year in the United States. This paper discusses the growth of wind power in rural America in recent years. A case study of a rural public power district is presented. This study evaluates the before and after scenarios for the public power district. Did the localized wind power generation (13.78 MW) tied into the distribution grid benefit the public power district? If so, in what ways? is a ubiquitous question that this research paper tries to answer. The analysis is based on data collected by the distribution grid level SCADA system. How did the distribution grid connected wind generation address the Summer peak demand? is also discussed. The auxiliary benefits of voltage and frequency regulation are quantified. An increase in the daily energy sale during the summer days of load control hours is also investigated.