Harnessing Market Value from Wind
The global energy transition depends not only on deploying more renewable capacity, but also on making existing and future wind assets smarter, more competitive, and economically sustainable. While wind power has grown rapidly across Europe, today’s electricity markets still present complex challenges that can limit the full value of wind generation.
At the core of these challenges lies the intrinsic variability and uncertainty of wind power. This variability complicates the participation of wind farms in electricity markets, particularly in the coordinated bidding processes required for day-ahead and balancing markets.
The Industry Challenge: Volatility and Market Participation
In most European electricity markets, wind farm operators must submit production schedules in the day-ahead market, committing to specific generation levels 24 hours before delivery. However, wind conditions are inherently uncertain, and actual production often deviates from scheduled values.
These deviations have two major consequences:
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Revenue risk: Mismatches between scheduled and actual production may lead to imbalance penalties or reduced revenues, directly affecting the profitability of wind projects.
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Limited access to balancing services: Although wind turbines can technically provide flexibility and balancing services, current market rules and control strategies do not always fully reward or enable this participation, especially across heterogeneous balancing markets.
While electricity markets are evolving, full harmonisation—particularly of balancing markets—remains incomplete, and the mechanisms that allow wind power to participate effectively are still maturing.
My Contribution: Towards Market-Ready Wind Power
Within the TWEED Project, and based at the University of Zaragoza under the supervision of Prof. María Paz Comech, my doctoral research focuses on developing advanced wind turbine control and fleet management tools for day-ahead and balancing markets.
My work is structured around three main pillars:
1. In-Depth Market Analysis
Effective strategies must be grounded in a solid understanding of electricity markets. My research begins with a detailed analysis of European power markets, with particular attention to balancing markets, where rules, products, and participation requirements vary significantly between countries.
Understanding this diversity is essential to designing flexible and scalable solutions that can be applied across different market contexts in Europe.
2. Coordinated Bidding Strategies
Rather than treating day-ahead and balancing market participation as independent processes, my research proposes a coordinated bidding framework that integrates both markets.
This approach accounts for:
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Spatial aggregation of wind farms
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Heterogeneous turbine technologies
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Uncertainties in wind power forecasts and electricity prices
By combining machine learning and probabilistic methods, the framework aims to maximise economic value while reducing financial risk for wind power producers.
3. Leveraging Turbine Control Capabilities
Modern wind turbines are not passive energy generators—they are highly controllable systems. My research explicitly incorporates turbine control capabilities into market participation strategies, enabling wind farms to provide not only energy but also valuable balancing services such as frequency reserves.
This integration allows wind assets to move beyond traditional energy-only roles and become active contributors to power system flexibility.
Why It Matters
The outcomes of this research have the potential to generate value on multiple levels:
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For industry: Decision-support tools that help wind farm operators navigate complex electricity markets and improve profitability.
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For system operators: Increased participation of wind power in balancing services, supporting grid stability as conventional generation is phased out.
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For the energy transition: Improved revenue certainty and reduced investment risk, helping to accelerate further deployment of wind energy.
In a future where clean power must be both abundant and economically viable, these innovations are essential. By integrating turbine control, data analytics, and market engineering, my work contributes to making wind energy not just a renewable resource, but a strategic and competitive participant in Europe’s electricity markets.
TWEED Researcher Stories – Bassey Okon Samuel (DC5, University of Zaragoza)
This article is part of the “TWEED Researcher Stories” series, highlighting the doctoral researchers shaping the digital future of wind energy within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network TWEED.