Huron Wind

Performance Data 2015

The five wind turbines produced 20,408 megawatt hours (MWh) to contribute to Ontario's grid.

The capacity factor was 25.9% with peak months reported in the first and fourth quarters.

The graph below depicts the monthly availability factor compared with monthly capacity factor  for 2015:

CAPACITY FACTOR

Capacity Factor (CF) is the amount of electricity that is produced during a specific time period, compared to the amount of electricity that could have been produced if operating at full output for that same time period. Capacity factor is expressed in per cent.

Example:
If a Vestas V80 wind turbine produced 700 Megawatts hours (MWh) in a month, what is the capacity factor for October?

Actual production

   

700 MWh

Perfect production

1.8 MW (V80 design output) x 24 hours in a day x 31 days in October

1,339.2 MWh

CF   (Capacity Factor)

(actual production/perfect production) x 100%
(700/1339.2) x 100

52.3 %.


AVAILABILITY FACTOR

Availability factor is the percentage of time that a wind turbine is available (or capable) to produce electricity. Hypothetically a wind turbine could be available 100 per cent of the time; however you must factor in Planned Outages (PO) for scheduled maintenance and inspections which could eat up 2 to 3 per cent of the available operating time. Breakdowns, grid outages, and severe weather conditions are examples of Forced Outages (FO) that could also take up an additional 2 to 3 per cent of the available operating time.

The availability factor is calculated by dividing the total operating time for the specified period by the total time minus the sum of the planned outage time and forced outage time, then multiplied by 100 per cent.

Example:
In October Wind Turbine A was out of service for four hours on October 12, to perform a scheduled inspection. An unplanned grid outage tripped the same wind turbine on October 19 and was offline for six hours. What is the availability factor for October?

TOT   (Total Operating Time)

31 days x 24 hours

744 hours

POT   (Planned Outage Time)

  

4 hours

FOT   (Forced Outage Time)

  

6 hours

AF      (Availability Factor)

(TOT - (POT + FOT)) / TOT  x 100 %
(744 - (6 + 4)) / 744 x 100%

98.5%


You will see on the graph the annual availability factor is lowest during the summer months. This is due to planned outages being scheduled during the summer to take advantage of the seasonally low wind conditions. Top notch wind turbines will have an availability factor above 97%.

Huron Wind is located 7 km northwest of Tiverton adjacent to the Bruce Power Visitors' Centre, where thousands of people come each year to learn how clean electricity is made by harnessing the power of wind and the atom. To learn more about our wind farm come to our Visitors' Centre or visit us online at www.huronwind.com.


About Bruce Power

The Bruce Power partnership consists of Borealis Infrastructure, The Bruce Power Employee Trust, The Power Workers' Union, The Society of Energy Professionals and TransCanada Corporation.

For further information, please contact:
John Peevers                         519-361-6559     john.peevers@brucepower.com
24-hour Duty Media Officer    519-361-6161

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