Constant pricing means they make more when wholesale prices tank and less when whole prices rise. I’ll sell you X% of my output for Y$/kWh is a perfectly valid strategy and batteries can absorb output spikes just as they absorb blackouts.
Hedges like this are a useful risk mitigation strategy as going bankrupt is a much larger downside than making slightly more money.
This fine. But from the fact that prices are sometimes high, we can conclude that overlll there is a shortage of windpower. Which will factor into the prices. The owner of the windpark can take the prices for each hour, and compute weighted average with production. And set that as the constant price.
Curtailment means there’s a different between what wind farms can produce and what the grid is willing to buy.
Wholesale prices are really just one aspect of grid manufacturing and paying them doesn’t mean you’re getting the equivalent of a percentage of wind farm productivity.
Hedges like this are a useful risk mitigation strategy as going bankrupt is a much larger downside than making slightly more money.