Traditionally, renewable energy plants delivered all the energy they could generate to the electrical system as renewable was a small portion of the total generation.

Nowadays, there is a significant percentage of time when renewable energy generators, despite being able to generate power, they do not do so due to grid stability constraints or overgeneration. The phenomenon is referred as curtailment.

The actual price paid for the energy (capture price) substantially varies with the time and the area. Projects in areas with large renewable capacity suffer from considerable price reductions (capture rate in %). In a market with an increasing wind power coverage, periods with very high wind production in the country are frequent and result in lower prices making the capacity factor or the equivalent hours as insufficient metrics to assess or compare project profitability.

Flat terrains with a high density of wind turbines encounter additional losses caused by the collective ‘wind speed reduction’ phenomenon known as the ‘blockage effect’. These losses can be quantified at approximately 3%.

Curtailments, capture price and blockage effect are now critical to consider when analyzing the profitability of an electrical power generation plant. A higher penetration rate of renewable energy will result in a greater impact on the capture price and curtailments.

Curtailments, capture price and blockage effect are now critical to consider when analyzing the profitability of an electrical power generation plant. A higher penetration rate of renewable energy will result in a greater impact on the capture price and curtailments.

Romanian wind power is located almost all in the same climate area in the east, so these fluctuations of wind power and prices will be higher than in other countries that enjoy wind power balanced in different climate areas.

The daily production in the western projects wind has no correlation with the eastern one:

Feb’21 Price €/MWh vs. wind coverage of the demand in %

Praxis projects clearly benefit from its geographical singularity by being located in areas with low or very low renewable energy penetration. Praxis has developed wind projects finding wind local effects in the complex Carpathian terrain.

Therefore, compared to other areas saturated by renewables it will benefit from:

• higher capture price
• much lower curtailments
• no blockage effect (existing or potential)
• high hybridization potential
• grid connection readily available