We investigate how wind speed at the height of a wind turbine changes during El Niño and La Niña years and with season and time of day in southeastern Australia. We found that El Niño and La Niña can cause average wind speed differences of around 1 m s^-1 in some regions. The highest wind speeds occur in the afternoon or evening around mountains or the coast and during the night for inland areas.  The results help show how placement of wind turbines can help balance electricity generation.

This paper assesses the behaviour and causality of sudden variations in wind power generation over a short period of time, also called "ramp events". It is shown, amongst other things, that ramps at the study site are mostly associated with frontal activity. Overall, the research contributes to a better understanding of the drivers and behaviours of wind power ramps at the wind farm scale, beneficial to ramp forecasting and ramp modelling.