Assessing temporal variability of wind resources in China and the spatial correlation of wind power in the selected regions

In this study, the temporal variability of wind resources in China and the spatial correlation of wind power in the selected regions are analyzed based on reanalysis wind speed data from 1998 to 2017. The monthly and diurnal variation patterns of wind speed are investigated first. Then the temporal variation patterns of wind power are further studied based on 12 selected regions. The temporal variability of wind resources varies from one region to another, which implies that the variability of wind power can be mitigated by combining wind farms in different regions. So the spatial correlation of wind power between different regions is analyzed. The correlation coefficients generally range from -0.4 to 1.0. Meanwhile, the spatial correlation of wind power on different time scales is further investigated. The correlation coefficients increase with the time scale in most cases. As a result, the monthly and yearly variations of wind power may not be significantly mitigated by interconnecting wind power generated in different regions. However, interconnecting different wind farms can effectively mitigate the hourly fluctuation in wind power due to the less correlation on the hourly time scale. Finally, the influence of the proportion of the installed wind power capacities between combined regions on the mitigation e ffect is discussed.