IBM releases RE output system

Share

As the amount of photovoltaic and wind powered generating capacity is increased on electricity grids, software to be able to accurately predict output from various renewable energy sources becomes increasingly important. IBM is entering this field with its Hybrid Renewable Energy Forecasting HyRef tool.

HyRef draws on weather modelling, cloud imaging and sky facing cameras to predict output from photovoltaic arrays. Sensors on wind turbines monitor wind speed, temperature and direction. IBM claims the data assimilation software can produce forecasts within a wind farm as far as one month in advance, or down to 15 minute increments.

HyRef is being applied by the State Grid Jibel Electricity Power Company Limited in China, in phase one of the 670 MW Zhangbei renewable energy demonstration project. The project combines wind and solar power with energy storage and transmission.

Phase one of Zhangbei project hopes to increase renewable energy integration by 10%. IBM says its HyRef system will allow the utility to more accurately forecast renewable energy production and predict how much power should be redirected into the electricity grid or stored.

"Applying analytics and harnessing big data will allow utilities to tackle the intermittent nature of renewable energy and forecast power production from solar and wind, in a way that has never been done before," said Brad Gammons, General Manager IBM's Global Energy and Utilities Industry, in a statement announcing HyRef's release.

Popular content

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

Share

Related content

Elsewhere on pv magazine...

Leave a Reply

Please be mindful of our community standards.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.

Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.

You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.

Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.