As wind power provides an increasingly larger share of electricity supply, the challenges caused by wind power intermittency have become more and more prominent. A better understanding of wind power intermittency would contribute to mitigate it effectively. In the present study, the definition of wind power intermittency is given firstly. Based on the definition, wind power intermittency is quantified by duty ratio of wind power ramp (DRWPR). This index provides system operators quantitative insights into wind power intermittency. Furthermore, some characteristics of wind power intermittency can be extracted by the index, such as the differences between wind speed intermittency and wind power intermittency, the differences of wind power intermittency between different scales and so on. The wind power intermittency of a Chinese wind farm is studied in detail based on the proposed index and historical data. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.