Increasing wind power penetration into the existing Serbian energy system

•The Serbian energy system existing in the year 2009 was modelled using the EnergyPLAN tool.•Two moderation strategies for wind integration are suggested.•Yearly energy imbalances due to different levels of wind penetration were lowered employing these strategies.

Serbia has wind with a good capacity factor, the respectable potential of which has not hitherto been utilized. There are a number of proposed wind power projects with an envisaged capacity of up to 2500 MW and the project documentation has been developed for 1300 MW. Within the existing feed-in tariff scheme, only 500 MW are eligible. This limitation is set in a conservative manner bearing in mind moderation (balancing) needs due to the variability of wind power generation. The existing Serbian energy system, with significant hydro generation, available pumped storage hydro capacity, and strong interconnections has many moderators for variable wind generation and for reliable technical performance of the grid. In this study, energy imbalances under different levels of wind penetration into the Serbian energy system were analyzed. Possible new moderation strategies for lowering energy imbalances due to wind integration were evaluated using the EnergyPLAN tool and are presented in this paper.