Energy Forecasting

AES Corporation, CA

Harnessing Weather Data for Energy Forecasting

AES is a global energy company that has purchased CWS weather stations for several US project locations since 2012.

Ellie Thacker, CWS Technical Sales Engineer, recently got a site tour and sends the following report:

The Huntington Beach Energy Project (HBEP), located in Huntington Beach, California, began operation in 2020. The HBEP is an 844-megawatt power generation plant that uses a natural gas-fired, combined-cycle turbine and a simple-cycle turbine.

The HBEP is one of the cleanest power generation plants in California due to its emissions control equipment.

The Challenge

Gas-fired turbines run more efficiently when the ambient temperature is lower. When the ambient air is colder, it is denser, which means more air can fit in the given volume that passes through the machinery. Relative humidity also affects the efficiency of the turbines.

John Islas, Instrumentation Controls and Electrical Technician, showed how they use the weather data from their two Columbia Weather Systems stations. Temperature and relative humidity measurements are used to determine the amount of power that the plant can produce on a given day, which is then reported to the state of California.

If the power plant under-produces, they must make up the difference monetarily. Having accurate assessments of the plant’s ability to produce power in given environmental conditions prevents unnecessary costs, which is why having on-site weather monitoring is critical to their operation.

Weather Monitoring Solution

Since its start, the Huntington Beach Energy Project has been using the Magellan MX500™ weather station. This model includes wind speed and direction, air pressure, temperature, and humidity. In more recent years they have added an additional temperature and humidity sensor module at the plant.

For seamless integration into their controls system, they use the 4-20mA interface option for both systems. Weather data is displayed front and center in their control room for real-time monitoring.

Islas reported that they have “never had any problem” with the weather stations.

Thank you for the tour!

Links for additional information:

Magellan MX Weather Stations

AES Website